bind my heart

bind my heart to the holy interests of that unseen world. - DOPP, John Baillie

S. Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed. John 20:29 - Streams in the Dessert Aug. 31

O. Sometimes God has to keep away encouraging results until we learn to trust without them.

A. I have to learn to look away from myself and trust God alone and then I will see that what God promises He will perform.

P. Father God, help me to put you first. Help me to put all of my trust in you. You will help me do things I thought impossible. Help me believe! Amen.

This fall is going to be full of things I would have thought impossible 5, 3, 1 year(s) ago. The biggest of which is I will be helping co-lead a mom's group at my church and I have to share my story in front of the women in a couple of weeks. At this point I don't even know what that story is or really how to summarize it. Accepting this role has brought about many emotions I didn't know were there. I feel beyond blessed to have even been considered for such a role but then it brings up all of those voices inside my head of how unworthy I am. So I wanted to stop by here today and share what I'm going through. The truth is, is that God has put me here for a reason it is not by mistake or coincidence, now I pray that I believe He will get me through and help me not continually beat myself up and doubt myself along the way. I am so grateful for the moms that have come along side me and that is one of my biggest reasons for being a part of this mom's group. Praying for a year of  meaningful togetherness, growth and support....and that I can figure out what I should talk about and that it makes sense!


 

Transition Foods

 The hardest part about incorporating a new lifestyle is how to blend your old life with your new life, especially when you have a family that isn't interested in your new lifestyle. It's so difficult because I have all of these new convictions, new knowledge, and dedication to do this for my and my families health. But when they, mainly my husband is not on board that can make things tricky. I knew that the kids wouldn't be that difficult to transition because they naturally do not like meat, well real meat anyways, they love chicken nuggets and hot dogs but I do not consider those real meat and haven't for a long time. But my husband on the other hand was another story. But he wanted to start eating healthier which I was happy about, at least he was taking that step forward with me in my journey.

 Image via Veggieboards.com

But, I made the classic mistake of going too far too fast. After my initial introduction of no red meat and meatless Monday went over well I was feeling great about it. I took that part slow. But then once I decided that I was going vegan for the first time I wanted to make all of our meals plant-based. This was a bit trickier because I went against my instinct to take it slow. I was smart enough not to clear out the pantry and fridge and start over with all new plant-based options, I knew that would be too much even for me, not to mention way too expensive. So I replaced things as they ran out with new plant-based items. Since I make all of the meals and do all of the shopping for our family this was easy to control. But then I made a mistake I wasn't into the idea of making a meal for them and a different for me especially wanting them to give up animal products like I did. So I just stopped buying certain products hoping that my husband would just forget about them, mainly milk. I'm laughing as I write this now because I had high hopes that would soon be dashed. I quickly learned that he would not forget and after a couple of heated discussions I soon realized that my new lifestyle changes were not worth ruining my marriage over. It never got to that point but it wasn't worth arguing over. It wasn't my place to make those decisions for him especially since I'm the one who decided to change years into our marriage. It makes me sad knowing that he still eats mostly the same way but he has accepted some new changes and I'm happy with that. I have managed to keep the dinners that I cook plant-based but I do still buy animal products that he can add to the meals to make it like he likes, mainly cheese. Some meals he will do this to and others he will leave all plant-based. I feel this is a good compromise, the main part of the meal is plant-based and healthy so that is a step in the right direction for him. He also is willing to give things a try which is great but he will quickly speak up if he doesn't like it.

Some of the easiest food changes I've made are mayonnaise, margarine, chicken nuggets and baking. Vegenaise is a great eggless mayo replacement. I can find it a my local grocery store and even found a large jar at Costco. Earth Balance is my new favorite margarine replacement, we were big Country Crock fans and I find this to taste the same, with no casein or whey. Baking has been easy too, I've made a ton of vegan cookies and even Duncan Hines cupcakes. For Duncan Hines just check the ingredients but most of their cake mixes and frostings are animal product free. I'm still working on the perfect egg replacer that actually keeps the cake together better but the taste is spot on and using a fork to eat the cupcakes fixes the crumbly problem. Gardein's crispy tenders and Madarin orange crispy chick'n nuggets have been a yummy addition to our meals. The first time I made the the orange chick'n with a stir-fry my husband kept asking me why I was eating meat. All I could do was giggle. He was shocked at how yummy they were, I even turned my in-laws onto them. Costco has them available in a large bag, so these have become a staple. Last week I put them on top of a salad with the orange sauce as a dressing and it was amazing!

Image via namelymarly.com

Other products that I love and my family will eat are Gardein's beefless grounds, burger patties and Life Lite Smart Dogs. These aren't their favorites but they will eat them. I know these products aren't the healthiest way to eat and some might call these vegan junk foods but they are great and much healthier when trying to incorporate the whole family in a plant-based life style. There are many other brands of beelfless grounds and "meat" products that I've tried and that work but the brands listed above are my favorites. It is so easy these days to go plant-based. There are countless products and tons of information out there, it really is much easier than you might think.

However I will not lie, vegan cheese just doesn't do it for any of us. That is the one thing that I just cannot seem to get on board with. It makes me sad to say that but I'm not going to lie about it. I love the taste of animals products and I try not to compare them to their vegan counterparts because I know they will not be the same but I just cannot do cheese. Luckily I've finally gotten to the point where I can just eat things without cheese or a cheese substitute. This has been very freeing. I'm not a slave to cheese anymore. There is only one cheese product that I have been able to tolerate so far and that is the Daiya Havarti Style Wedge. But I do not use it much at all. 

Milk has been a super easy item to replace because I already liked almond milk and rice milk. I do not like soy or hemp milk though. But to each their own. My favorite almond milk is Silk Unsweetened Original Almond Milk which is Non GMO Project Verified and my favorite rice milk is Costco's Kirkland Organic Rice Milk. I don't exactly drink these by the glass full but they are great in cereal, baking and cooking. I've also completely replaced Daniel's bottles of cows milk with these.

I know there are many more products that I've purchased and used but these are some of the staples that have helped me and my family transition to a healthier way of eating without changing our weekly meals too much. So my advice is take it slowly. Replace items as needed when transitioning. Do not go cold turkey especially if you have a family that isn't on board. We still have a freezer full of meat because I used to stock up on marked down meat. I still occassionally make a meal that has meat as the main dish and I just eat the side dishes and a big salad usually. I still buy dairy, eggs and meat for my husband. I don't like to but I do because I love him and respect his wishes.

Sorry if this was kind of a boring post but I wanted to share the things that have helped us transition and keep transitioning as a family. I feel it's very important to be honest and real. It's hasn't been the easiest transition for us but it's been easier than I thought it would in the beginning. It is so worth it for long term health.
 

My Journey to Plant-Based. Part 2

I forgot to add in the last post that I also have some type of autoimmune disorder, which is why I had arthritis at such a young age but the doctors aren't able to diagnose it yet. Which is the case with many autoimmune disorders. I've been tested for Lupus twice, which my mom has, but it's been negative both times. I tested positive for Sjogren's syndrome but it was only for one of the two antibodies and I don't have the actual symptoms that come with Sjogrens. So I was told I don't actually have it but there is something definitely going on.  This was another reason for changing my diet. I've known for a long time that diet is related to how you feel and as I've learned more about autoimmune disorders I've learned that they can be related to diet as well.

So even though I heard the message about animal products and it clicked  I decided I was going to become vegetarian. No meat is easy, no dairy is another issue. That would literally require a complete lifestyle change and something I never thought I would do. I've never ever met a vegan in real life and quite frankly I didn't have a good representation of them. In other words I was ignorant to the whole lifestyle. There is way more to it than I ever thought.

It just so happened by accident that my first meatless day was February 1 and I haven't looked back since. I will admit meat smells good and looks good. My hubby still eats it and when we BBQ his juicy burger smells so good, but I have come so far now that I would hate to eat it, oh yeah and it's not good for ME. Other than everything I learned from Forks Over Knives and other documentaries, books and the online community, I have a literal reason why not to eat meat. It physically causes my body harm. I'm only 32, I can't imagine if I would have kept eating meat how I would feel in 10, 20, 30 years. I was miserable now and ready to change. I finally had the education about meat and dairy and since I had real life proof about what was said I knew it was true and everything made sense.

 Another reason to cut animal protein, uric acid increase and calcium leaching. Got milk? Has another meaning to me now that I've learned the truth.

As I continued not eating meat I started to learn more about the plant-based diet and cholesterol. I didn't realize that the only way we put cholesterol into our bodies is through animal products. Our bodies produce it on their own so why did we need to add more? These new things that I've learned go against everything that I've been told my whole life. But look around, why are we obese? Why are we the leading country with osteoporosis, yet we consume the most dairy in the world? Why is cancer getting worse when we spend more money than ever on research? Why are our kids getting type 2 diabetes? Why is heart disease, a completely unnecessary disease the number 1 killer in America? To me it is not a mystery anymore. It is simply what we choose to put in our mouths at every meal. I understand the people who don't want to know, my husband is one of those people. But I was finally ready to know and take action. I was done with the SAD.

There is way more information out there than this but I like how short and to the point this video is.

As I learned more and more I knew that I needed to go plant-based. So I slowly stopped drinking milk, eating cheese and eggs by themselves. Everything was a process, I slowly cleaned out our fridge and replaced animal products with vegan alternatives as needed. This made the change doable. (I will write another post in more detail about what foods I changed and what I do for meals.)  I started to try to go most days without any animal products. Even though something would slip in here in there because I'm still learning what has animal products in it and what doesn't. We also stopped fast food for a month or so. And you know what started to happen? I started to lose weight! By eliminating animal products and eating a ton more fruits and veggies the weight started to fall off. I wasn't even working out, no exercise at all. I was eating all I wanted, no calorie counting, I was even eating baked vegan goods daily and still the weight was falling off. I felt so much lighter, my stomach started to flatten more and I felt unencumbered, if you know what I mean. I now call it weight release instead of weight loss. My body started to release what it had been holding on to this whole time but I also started to go through detox. I believe the majority of that weight release was toxins my body had been holding onto. I started to get acne again and started needing more sleep, water and rest in general. I was in full on detox mode and I didn't really realize it.

 One of the meals that really helped me transition and is still my favorite meal is taco salad. This is a mountain of taco salad on my plate. I use lettuce, a few Juanita's tortilla chips, Gardien meatless grounds with taco seasoning or brown rice and black beans with taco seasoning, Wholly Guacamole or avocado, bell peppers, green onions, cilantro, tomatoes, and salsa.

But at the same time people were telling me I looked different, I had a glow about myself. This made me feel awesome and fueled my passion. Which I needed while detoxing. But then April hit. Life started to get busier again which made it harder. I started telling myself that I'm just going to stick with the vegetarian thing full time and be vegan when I can. We started to eat fast food again and I just made sure it was vegan when I could or at least vegetarian. So I had cheese pizza here and there and birthday cake and ice cream. But then what happened, they weight release stopped. *insert sad face*. I wasn't gaining any weight thank God but I wasn't losing anymore. I started to feel encumbered again and I knew exactly what was causing it. I was eating things with animal products in them, eggs, milk, cheese. I wasn't eating the foods by themselves but they were hidden in the things I was eating. Like a certain peanut butter cracker we get has cheddar cheese in the ingredients. This shocked me! If I wanted cheese crackers I would get cheese crackers, not peanut butter crackers.

I was proud of myself for ordering a veggie pizza (sans cheese) for the kids birthday party but I did eat cake and a little ice cream. I was trying but not very hard.

Once the birthdays were over at the end of April I had decided I was done with animal products all together and remembered everything I had learned before. Now that I knew the truth and how I felt without eating animal products I wanted that back. The emotional tie that I have to cheese isn't worth how I feel after eating it. Also, I want to be clear, when I was eating the SAD I didn't have problems with digestion, I didn't have heart burn or bloating most of the time. So when I say now that I feel yucky after eating cheese I never felt that before when eating cheese or dairy, it is because my body has reset to what it is supposed to be. When I put these animal products in it, I feel weighed down, I feel like I have a rock in my stomach and sometimes my stomach hurts. It just isn't worth the discomfort for a few seconds of pleasure that I know is making me sick.

Now that I've recommitted myself, it is the second week of May and I am feeling great. I'm down another 2 lbs. I've started to incorporate some more changes into my diet this week which are very exciting and very new and foreign. I'm still nervous about it which is something else I'm dealing with, but I'm again immersing myself into research. All I know is the two days that I've done it I felt great! I didn't do it today and felt a difference and can't wait to get back at it tomorrow. Once I have more time under my belt I will share more.

Here's a hint of what I'm doing. Mangos, Ataulfo mangos, bananas, Asian pears, pineapple, Medjool dates, avocados, cantaloupes, watermelons, apples and oranges. #fruitstash

My journey to Plant-Based. Part 1

I've been completely quiet about this on the blog so far because everything was so new and I wanted to see if this was going to stick or fail. But I'm finally ready to share what I've been doing and why I haven't posted any recipes lately, though I've been cooking up a storm.

In short I have become a vegan. I eat a completely plant-based diet, no animal products at all go into my body. Here is the story as to why I decided to switch from the standard American diet (SAD) to a vibrant abundant plant-based lifestyle.

Eating vibrant colorful food in abundance makes you feel vibrant and colorful. You are what you eat!

Over the past few months I've made some pretty major changes in my life concerning what I eat. This past fall I went into the doctor for some pain in my thumb that I embarrassingly enough thought might be from being on my phone too much, but to my surprise I was diagnosed with Gout. Gout is a form of arthritis. It comes from having high uric acid levels in your body and this creates crystal like formations around your joints causing a lot of pain. Usually it occurs in the big toe but mine was mostly in my right thumb. I've had arthritis since I was 11 in most of my major joints but this was a new one to me. At that Dr.'s appointment I also discovered that my blood pressure was higher than it ever had been (it was always perfect in the past even during pregnancies), my cholesterol was heading in a bad direction, I was 60 lbs overweight (which I already knew!), and the big kicker was that I was .4 points away from being pre-diabetic!

Even though I was in pain from the gout all I could think about was that I was almost diabetic. I had always wondered about diabetes but never thought I could actually come close to having it. Even though I had gained the least amount of weight with my third pregnancy I already had so much from the second that the measly 11 lb gain from the third completely put me over the top. I was in pain all of the time, I knew I wasn't supposed to be that heavy and my body was screaming at me. But I just didn't know what to do. I had lost complete control of what I was eating and had some how slipped into binge eating and I was scared to death of not having any control.

The Dr. had prescribed an arthritis medication for me that I was supposed to take everyday. We ended up having trouble with insurance every time I went to pick up this medication and I hated taking pills everyday, so all of that combined with my declining health, I knew I had to do something once and for all but I didn't know what that was or when I was going to be ready to do that. Oddly enough I actually look at my Gout diagnosis as a blessing now because it has started me down a path that I never would have imagined. Gout is a food related disease and it really hit me that you are what you eat. The main thing you need to stay away from with gout is red meat, it causes high uric acid levels. So that was my first step on my journey. I cut out red meat, it was super easy, I just replaced it with ground turkey and chicken in any recipe that called for ground beef. At the time we were eating too much spaghetti with meat sauce and hamburger helper (I  know, mom of the year right here). But I was exhausted all of the time and it was a favorite dinner that the kids loved and would actually eat. Little did I know that I was killing myself with my food choices.

100% Cherry juice and carbonated beverages are supposed to help fight uric acid levels, so I combined the two for a tasty spritzer.

Soon after that I decided to figure out how to make boxed meals from scratch because I knew we were eating way too much processed foods. Thanks to Pinterest that was super easy. I pretty much looked up whatever we were eating from a box ( hamburger helper, rice-a-roni, etc.) and found lots of recipes from scratch. Then I started to incorporate Meatless Monday into our weekly menu. Again this was super easy there are so many delicious vegetarian dishes out there, our whole family enjoyed this.


Then sometime after that "the major change" occurred. We had decided to down grade our cable to the most basic local channels to save money and get rid of junk TV and we decided to try Netflix. Always being someone who was interested in being healthy, I was 40 lbs lighter before my second child,  I was hardcore into lifting, running and eating clean. I felt great but once I became pregnant everything fell apart big time. Anyways back to what I was saying, I was interested in losing weight and nutrition; and I always like learning new things. So I started watching a bunch of documentaries and then it happened, I watched Forks Over Knives (free on Netflix). Something inside me clicked but I felt I needed to keep it secret because my husband still isn't on board fully. He fully supports me and my efforts but he himself isn't ready to make any "crazy" changes. This was sometime in early January 2014, that whole month I couldn't get Forks Over Knives out of my head. So I immersed myself into learning more about the plant based vegan lifestyle. I tried to be a vegetarian for a week when I was like 12 but when I went over to a friends house and her grandmother got mad at me for not eating the meat she had prepared I thought it was too difficult and quickly gave up. So not eating meat wasn't a foreign concept, but veganism was. No eggs? No milk? No butter? No CHEESE? Excuse me, I eat that stuff with every meal, how am I going to live and....be happy?

Confidence...

For you have been my hope, O Sovereign Lord, my confidence since my youth. From birth I have relied on you. 

Psalm 71:5-6

Confidence is something I've always struggled with. It's funny because if there is a situation where I'm caught off guard and have to be confident I will be and be fine with it. But if there is something that I need to be confident for in the future I will struggle with self doubt up until the moment arrives, during the moment and then tear myself apart afterwards, telling myself how I should have handled things differently.

Self doubt is super ugly, it is the enemy doing what he does best. It is a quick and easy way to isolation. Which is another thing I've dealt with for the past few years. But through diligent prayer God has seen my hearts desire and has slowly started opening doors for me. I put my trust and hope in Him; and by doing so I've caught myself many times saying that I would never have thought I would be where I am, doing what I'm doing, thinking what I'm thinking and surrounding myself with the people that I am. It has only been through God's grace, mercy and true love for me that I can say these things.

The only way that I have confidence is through Him, He is my strength. My confidence comes from the hope that I find in Him, through trying to have an eternal perspective. Not that it's always easy and I get side tracked alot but it is what I have to come back to, the truth. 

The confidence I speak of isn't me telling myself I'm so awesome, look great or feel better than others. It is a confidence to face my fears, to live everyday with His new mercies, to know His love and kindness, to know that I do deserve these things and finally the biggest thing I'm learning is to show these to others without fear of rejection. I guess, the confidence to be vulnerable. Though it might be scary; to do it anyways, knowing that God is there, He has my back, He is my confidence.

O Lord God Almighty, who is like you? You are mighty, O Lord, and your faithfulness surrounds you.

  Psalm 89:8

((Linking up with: Raising Homemakers, Walking Redeemed, Women Living Well, A Wise Woman Builds Her Home, & Deep Roots at Home))

Being Remade

.

Daring paths

End of summer reading.
Heavy thoughts.
Following new paths.
Trying to change old habits.
Thankful for new beginnings.
Knowing that the path will be long.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Excited for new views, new ideas.
New ways to show love to her and him. Realizing how I probably screwed up with the first, but also realizing how wonderful he is despite my lack of intention.

Get to know me

Hi! I'm Heather. Thanks for stopping by. Here is a little about me, hope you stay a while.

The Basics: believer, sinner, wife, mama of three, homemaker, tot/homeschooler, vintage lover, pinterest hoarder, instagram addict, bargain shopper, crafter, sewist, baked goods enthusiast, thrifter, positive thinker, go getter but not a stick wither and working on that. 

This might all sound serious but it's not. I fumble everyday with trying to keep up with everything but I believe that my passion for Jesus, to make a home for my family and to stay creative and positive will result in wonderful memories for my children that will last a life time and hopefully be my legacy. My goal is to be a godly woman, wife and mother. To live everyday through His grace and to pass that on to my children.

Full Disclosure:
This policy is valid from 26 August 2011

 This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. This blog does not accept any form of advertising, sponsorship, or paid insertions. We write for our own purposes. However, we may be influenced by our background, occupation, religion, political affiliation or experience.
 The compensation received may influence the advertising content, topics or posts made in this blog. That content, advertising space or post may not always be identified as paid or sponsored content.
 The owner(s) of this blog is not compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the blog owners. If we claim or appear to be experts on a certain topic or product or service area, we will only endorse products or services that we believe, based on our expertise, are worthy of such endorsement. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer or provider.
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He's here!

Hi Everybody,

I know it's been forever since I've last blogged but it has been for a good reason. My newest son Daniel Joseph is here! He arrived on April 27 and was six weeks early. He weighed 4 lbs 9 oz. and was 17 inches long. He had no complications other than he was six weeks early and little. He stayed 9 days in the NICU just to get his weight up and fight off some Jaundice.

He's two months old now and time is flying by. But as you can see I don't have much time for blogging or crafting for that matter. I do really want to get back to doing somethings but right now it's just too much. Hopefully in the fall I can start getting back to my hobbies. But in the meantime I'm enjoying being a mother to my three babies even though one of them is 12 now!

Here are some pictures of the little guy. He has gained weight like crazy since he's been home and is doing great.

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Life update

Hi ya'll!

I wanted to pop in and give an update as to what's been going on lately. First off I'm feeling much better. I've been getting some projects done and when I get pictures I'll post them.

I know now why I was feeling so sick, we are having a boy! We're very excited. Still working on a name, boys names are tough.

But on top of being pregnant, my husband threw out his back at work. A week after it happened we found out it was a pertruding disc. So we've tried physical therapy for a month now and his pain has only increased so today we met with the neurosurgeon again and scheduled the surgery for this coming Tuesday. We're waiting for the workers comp case to be approved but we can't put the surgery off anymore. We could use all of your prayers right now, for the approval of the claim and the surgery and recovery. He will be at home for a month and then another month of light duty work and PT.

So that's what has been going on. I will update again soon. Take care.

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Blogging Hiatus

Hi all, it has been forever since I've blogged anything and I wanted to give everyone an update as to where I've been. Well, I have great news.....I'm pregnant! But so far this pregnancy has been tough, everything is going fine, it's just the morning sickness. It lasts all day and I'm exhausted, more than I've ever been. I know I just need to wait for the first trimester to be over but that's another month away. I pretty much haven't felt like doing much of anything and that includes blogging, sadly enough. So I'll keep this quick but just wanted to let anyone who's wondering, where I've been, know. I'm not sure when I'll pick up blogging again. I might just check in here and there. But I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season!

 

 

 

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A to Z, Get to know me better

I saw this idea on C.R.A.F.T. and thought it was a great idea. You can get to know me a little better and hopefully if you repost I can get to know you better.

A. age: 30 and loving it

B. bed size: queen

C. chore you hate: Dishes, it just never ends, 3+ meals a day, everyday!

D. dogs: none at the moment, love Boxers though    

E. essential start to your day: Breakfast  

F. favorite color: Teal/Aqua, at least at the moment   

G. gold or silver: silver

H. height: 5'9"

 
I. instruments you play: none

J. job title: domestic engineer

K. kids: 11 year old Brenden and 16 month old Hannah

L. live: Portland, OR

M. maiden name: M for Murray

N. nicknames: Punkin

O. overnight hospital stays: once when I was 4, I think I had Fifths disease or something and then twice with two births 

        

P. pet peeve: rolling the bag closed in the cereal box and many more I can't think of right now

Q. quote: "necessity is the mother of invention"

R. righty or lefty: righty 

 S. siblings: 0 =[

T. time you wake up: My alarm is set for 8:15am now, trying to get Hannah on a new schedule slowly, she's a late sleeper. Will change though as soon as school starts, but I'm excited to get up earlier.

U. university attended: none, but I went to Ashmead School of Massage, even though I graduated I never got my license

V. vegetables you dislike: eggplant

W. what makes you run late: life  


X. x-rays you’ve had: broke my left arm with I was pregnant with Hannah, luckily I recovered right before she was born.

Y. yummy food: yes, it is. 

Z. zoo animal favorite: elephants   

If you decide to repost this on your blog, leave me a comment letting me know so I can get to know you better. =]

 

      

Versatile Blogger Award

I received the Versatile Blogger Award! I'm so excited!

The rules of accepting the award are as follows:

1. Thank the person who gave you the award and link back to them.

Thank you, Emily @ LaForce Be With You. I'm so glad I found your blog a while ago. I love all of your different ideas.

2. Tell 7 things about yourself.

That is alot to think of....

1. I'm a Gemini through and through. I am a creature of change. I get bored quickly, so I'm always changing    my hair, style and blog background.

2. I'm getting more comfortable with myself the older I get, just like they say. Who knew?

3. I had no idea 15 years ago that I would want to be a housewife, but I've never been happier in my life.

4. As I was reading Emily's story about being stung by a stingray, it reminded me of how scary the ocean is to me as well. I was stung by a jellyfish when I was 11 in the Gulf while snorkeling with dolphins. But that's not why it scares me, it's the massive size and the deep dark parts. But this doesn't stop me from dipping my feet in and going on a boat, I just don't want to dive it.

5. I've lived in 4 different states, Georgia, Florida, Oklahoma and Oregon, slowly making my west my whole life. Now I would never leave Oregon, too beautiful. But I will always be proud to be a Georgia peach, just wish I still had my accent.

6. I love all types of music. Literally, I listen to alot of country because it's wholesome but you might catch me listening to hip hop or pop while dancing with my baby girl, classic rock, oldies or metal while sampling my husbands huge metal collection. I also went through a Christian ska phase in high school.

 7. When I was living in Marietta, GA at age 9-10 I played on the playground with a couple of the members of Another Bad Creation.

3. Pay it forward and award the Versatile Blogger to 15 recently discovered new bloggers.

Hopefully these bloggers are new enough (that part was hard) and they haven't received this award before, I scowered your blogs and couldn't find it.

1. Melissa@{Oh} Buttons!

2. Courtney@She's Crafty

3. Danielle@Blissful & Domestic

4. Katie@Craptastic

5. Mrs. Gray@Crafting with the Grays

6. Dana@D'Lea Designs

7. Angie@Thrifty Like Me

8. Angie@Tennessee Sunshine

9. Jenny@Seamingly Smitten

10. Lauren@My Wonderfully Made

11. Leah@Living Life Crafty

12. Katie@Katie's How To

13. Lindsey@I'd rather be crafting

14. Christini@Christini Yogini

15. Emily@Domestic Deadline

Check these ladies out, I wouldn't be following them if they didn't have something great to offer.

Hoo are you? #35

This should be fun, I'm Linking up to:

 

1. Do you pay your bills online or through snail mail?
online, I've been doing it as long as my bank has offered it

2. How many email accounts do you have?
2, one too many =]

3. Do you use XM/Sirius, radio, ipod, CD, or etc.. in your vehicle?
I use good ol' fashioned air wave radio and CD sometimes

4.  What shows are sparking your interest on TV right now?
alot, I DVR everything and watch during breakfast, lunch, folding laundry, really anytime I can, I know I'm addicted. Martha Stewart Show, Martha Stewart Baking, The Talk, American Idol, 19 Kids & counting, Wanted II: Adventure Woman, Teen Mom ( I know I know, but I was a young mom and the stories interest me), Blazer games and anything on SPROUT which my 10 month old loves.

5. Name 3 things that you think of when you hear the word "GREEN"!
grass, recyling, St. Patricks day.

blog numero uno

This first blog won't be much. Today so far I've only managed to get this blog going and drink alot of coffee. But I wanted to post something. I plan on this blog being about everyday life, my crafting, baking and being a mama. The simple pleasures in life. Recently my life has changed drastically. I went from commuting 1+ hours daily, working 40+ hours a week at a job I loved but a boss that didn't love me, living in a part of town and house that my husband and I hated ~ to commuting from my bedroom to the living room, being a stay at home mama to a boss that can't live without me and finally living in the country closer to family. We've made huge sacrifices to get here, but the dark clouds are lifting and we're finally happy living a nice, quiet, simple life. The lessons I've learned in the past year are priceless and I thank God everyday for blessing us.