Everyday Live Happy

Quarantine. That is a word that I never thought I would ever have to deal with. Now it is a daily fact for so many people all over the world. Crazy! But after the initial shock is over, now what? Even if you are working, home schooling your kids or even yourself, you are going to have so much extra time on your hands. Most of us aren't used to too much time. I mean don't get me wrong at first I was like "Nice. Life is going to slow down and give us a chance to breathe." But by day 7 I thought I was going to scream! A little extra time now and then is great but, now faced with weeks of extra time all I could think was "What am I going to do." So I started to make a list of things that I wanted to do, needed to do and could spend time doing. Here are some ideas.... Deep clean your house. I mean it is spring so now would be a great time to do your spring cleaning. Organize your closet. Take out all the clothes and shoes that you don't wear anymore. Pu...

Covid -19. I'd never heard of it before last month. I didn't know what it was. I didn't know how much it would effect my life and I don't even have the virus. So much is unknown. So much is left up in the air. It's impossible to move forward since we don't know how bad this can get or how long it will last or how far it will spread. I am lucky though. I don't have the Coronovirus. No one I know has been exposed to it. There has only been one case in our local health department boundaries. Since I live in a relatively rural area out local health departments boundaries actually cover a couple of counties. And that one case was from someone who had traveled to an area where there were many cases. Now I know that that is not the norm for most of the state of Utah. The areas around Salt Lake City have a stay at home that was ordered by their city mayor and the county mayor. I am very grateful that while there are restrictions that are state wide that the stay...

WOW! That's the first description that comes to mind of the past week or so. I can't believe how much can change in the matter of a few weeks. A month ago my worries were simple, everyday worries about things that really don't matter in the big picture. I worried about helping my daughter get time to practice for her coming up dance competition. I worried about finding time to do some extra cleaning. I worried about how I was going to get things ready for a church function that I was helping with. And so on. Now those worries not only don't seem nearly as bad, but most are now moot. Competitions and other functions have been cancelled. As have been dance, gym, yoga and other classes - even school! It seems like daily for over the past week my life has taken drastic unbelievable, crazy turns! No school and since I work at an elementary school that means no work for me either. It also meant a loss of income because I only get paid when I work. Church has been cancelled....

Time management and I are not friends. Everything I should do, want to do and need to do seem to lose out many times to whatever is easiest and takes the least amount of effort. I know this about me. It's something I'm aware of. But in the middle of the chaos that is sometimes life, I just don't care enough to do something about it. Sigh.... Everyday I begin by thinking about how much I'm going to get done - what I'm going to accomplish that day. I don't think bigger than I can reasonably do. It's just by the time I get home from work many times I just sit down just for a minute on my phone. Next thing I know much, much, much more time has past than a "few" minutes. The funny thing is I'm not really a fan of social media. That's not to say I don't look at it. But it's usually playing games or searching through all the ideas on Pinterest. So many great ideas. But I'm not going to tell you how many pins I have. Actually, I'm...

I am one of those people who love quotes. I love happy quotes, meaningful quotes, get-your-life-together quotes. Any quotes that "speaks" to me, my heart, my situation. I write some of them down in my planner. I've even posted a couple on my kitchen bulletin board. I also have an entire Pinterest board dedicated to them.  They remind me to work harder, to try harder, to be happy, to love life. In case you can't tell I prefer uplifting quotes. Here are a few that will hopefully brighten your Sunday. This last quote sums up what quotes do for me. They force me to intentionally focus on an area in my life. Good habits help us in our lives - I have an entire post on habits. Habits are not bad but they can become automatic to the point that we are barely participating in our lives. That is not what life is supposed to be. Quotes remind me to pay attention and I love that make me intentionally participate in my life. And what a life it is!

I made a list of goals or habits that I wanted to implement/reach three weeks ago. It's going okay and I really like how it is set up to track. But as the weeks have gone by I can see that I need to reevaluate some of the habits. For instance, do you have any idea how hard it is to drink 128 oz of water everyday? Super hard! I haven't attained it once and it still has me running for the bathroom at very inopportune times throughout the day. That one is being changed to 68 oz for now and then I'll reevaluate again in a month to see if I should increase to 96 oz. That is one of my favorite things about habits instead of goals. Habits are changing and adaptable. If something isn't working I don't feel like my goal is a lost cause. It doesn't seem like quite the failure that it could be. A habit isn't written in stone. Good habits slowly changes us for the better. I can also see if there are things that I should add to my list. I've discovered one of tho...

Fruits and Vegetables. They are very good for you. Vitamins. Minerals. Fiber. It's recommended that you eat 3-5 servings of vegetables and 2-4 servings of fruits everyday. I know all of these facts. So why is it so hard to get the recommended number of servings a day? Maybe it's just me, but I'm not very good at it. Unfortunately, when I look for a snack it's usually a cookie or some crackers. Not an apple or some carrots. I've been trying more. Today I ate an apple with my lunch. Great so that's one serving out of the 5-9 that I should be getting. I haven't been very good at eating them so that means that I haven't been very good at serving them to my family. I love my family. I want them to be healthy. I still can't wrap my head around how hard it is for us. Occasionally I'll grill some chicken to put on a salad or make a soup with lots of veggies or make teriyaki chicken with rice and many different vegetables. On those days I'm like ...

In my last post I mentioned that I have daily cleaning zones. Areas of my home that I clean on designated days. For instance, on Mondays I clean the kitchen. I have things that I do there each week - dishes, sweep the floor, counters, wipe down the outside of the fridge. Those are the basic tasks. But there are weekly tasks as well. The first and third Mondays of the month I also mop the floor and clean the kitchen sink and counters and. Monthly I also clean out the fridge - take everything out and wash the shelves with soapy water. This system has worked well for me. I've had the daily days lined up for years. I know where I should be spending my time cleaning each day, I just haven't been good at doing it lately. Part of the reason why is that it doesn't always look like it needs it. But just because something doesn't look dirty doesn't mean that it isn't. That's why I've rededicated myself to strictly following it this year.  I want my home to alw...

This year I am working on gaining new habits not resolutions. I guess technically they aren't very different from each other, but they sound different. Basically everyone who makes resolutions has one of a handful of things they want for the new year in common. They want to lose weight, get a good job, eat healthy, etc. And basically everyone has given up by February. To me a resolution is like a wish. It isn't supposed to be that way, but it sort of is. People don't make a plan to make those resolutions work. Changing what we always do isn't easy. This year instead of making the same old resolutions as I do every year, I'm going about it differently. I'm working on changing my habits. I made a list of habits that I want to have or habits that would be good for me. I have some that are unoriginal and others that will make our home run more smoothly. Here are mine: Exercise - hopefully at least 30 minutes 4+ times a week Drink more water - my goal is 128 oz ...

Wow! Another year has come to a close. I must admit that I must be old because time is just flying by! It doesn't seem possible that we are welcoming in 2020 at midnight! I hope I haven't wasted 2019. I hope that wasn't just a series of same old, same old, everyday. I know that I did things or had things happen that make this year memorable, but what about my each and every normal day. I did try to notice the simple things more often. I did try to be more present in moments. I did try to be more active. But there were still days that I spent way to much time on my phone. Days that I was just along for the boring ride. Days that I completely wasted. Days that I just sat around and watched TV all day instead of interacting with others. Unfortunately, I think that we all have days like that. I don't want that. I don't think anyone does. But what do we do about it? If we want things to be different we have to change. Change our mindset. Change what we do. Change how...

I have been thinking a lot about "RISK" over the past year. Last January I saw a local television show where they were talking about how lots of people choose a word for the year. It is their focus. A few years ago there was a lot going on in our family - lots of changes. That year I had a word for the year. It was faith. Faith that everything was going to work out and be okay. It was the perfect word for me that year. That is the only time that I have ever done that. But back to last January they were talking about instead of having a word of the year to pick one for each week or month. That way you could push extra hard incorporating that idea into shorter periods. Also you would be able to use more than one word a year as well. They were throwing out ideas of words to use. I was only half listening until they said the word "Risk." For some reason that word hit me hard. Actually I know why the word hit me hard. I like my comfort zone. I am happy in my comfort zo...

It's been a VERY long time since I last published a post. Too long actually. I haven't forgotten about this blog or my intentions with it. I have actually thought about it a lot. Often I will think of something and think that would be such a good blog post. Unfortunately I am an awesome procrastinator. Not always a bad trait, but in this instance it wasn't my friend. I did have a reason for stepping back for a moment. I have not been able to make this blog exactly what I wanted as far as the set up of this page. I couldn't get some things to work that I really wanted to have available to anyone who wanted to connect with this blog. I was hoping that I would be able to figure some things out or get some answers to help me do what I wanted to do. Unfortunately, I still haven't made things what I wanted. I haven't found the answers that were needed. But I have decided that I can't just wait for the blog fairy to magically fix everything before I continue. I a...

I learned a long time ago that even good, happy events can come with a lot of stress. Tons of it sometimes! The past few months at our house there have been some really good, really stressful events. We bought a new home and moved 2 1/2 weeks before Christmas. Boxing up a house, buying presents, decorating and so much more made Christmas that much more stressful. Then the unpacking. I decided that unless there was a reason for keeping something, we weren't keeping it. Also if there was something worth keeping then it needed to find a home. No clutter. No mess. That meant that every box I unpacked took that much longer as I decided what I really needed or wanted to keep and what I was going to donate. Then once that was mostly done, we took everything out of our storage unit, filled our garage with boxes and started the entire process again! I still have a few boxes and pieces of furniture in the garage that I'm deciding what to do with. I am happy to say that with the exception...

I love phone wallpaper. The picture that comes up on your phone's lock screen and background on your home screens. I change my quite regularly. And while I love pictures and literally have more than a thousand pictures on my phone, I don't use those for my wallpaper. I could, I just don't. Instead I Google wallpaper. Not just any wallpaper either. Summer wallpaper. Winter wallpaper. Valentines wallpaper. Halloween wallpaper. You get the idea. I change my wallpaper for every season and holiday. When you Google summer wallpaper it brings up hundreds of pictures. You find the picture that you like, save it and then go to settings and pick that picture for your wallpaper. Easy! The hardest part for me is choosing which picture to use. I have a certain style that I can't even really explain. I know what I like. Sometimes it's a crafty looking wallpaper. Sometimes it has a quote. Sometimes it's scenery that I like. Like I said, it's hard to explain my style. But I...

I love Christmas. The trees (yes I said trees.) The lights. The feel in the air and in our home. However, unlike stores that have Christmas out before Halloween, I don't decorate until Thanksgiving dinner is over. Thanksgiving is an often over looked holiday. I don't have many decorations for it other than a few pumpkins that go with my Halloween decor as well. But I love that we have a holiday that is all about gratitude. I am a truly blessed person. I have so many things that I am grateful for. The food is great of course, but more importantly is that we get together with family. We eat, talk, laugh and enjoy being together. We watch movies, play games and eat more pie. It's a great holiday - especially when it isn't my year to cook! I hope that before we pull out all of our Christmas decorations that we take time on Thanksgiving to reflect on what we are truly thankful for. Here is a list of a few of the things that I am thankful for (in no particular order....) M...

Halloween means dressing up. We take this seriously at our house. In fact the main reason I bought a sewing machine was so I could make costumes for this girl. (For some reason my 14 year old son doesn't want me to make him costumes...) This year she was a mummy obviously. But we did a little bit different take on it.  First I tea dyed her long sleeved shirt, leggings and a cream colored sheet, so they would have an old look to them. You can't really tell from the picture but they aren't the white color that they appear to be.  Then I cut the sheet into strips and randomly sewed them onto her shirt. Focusing more on her torso. There is also some ribbon and gold tulle mixed into the wraps. I did add a few more wraps around the arm after she put it on so that some of the strips wrapped around her hands. Those strips I just safety pinned on. The skirt is made from the sheet with lace sewed on the bottom. Then strips of fabric hang down with gold tulle sewe...

We have a tradition at our house that we love. We have done it off and on for many years, but we have done it every year for the past 10 years. We make a Halloween house. Think gingerbread house for Halloween. We make it out of graham crackers so we can make the tallest, spookiest looking house. We have got together with friends many of the years, but not this year. Kids, schedules, work and holidays don't make it easy to have a day that works for many people. So my daughter and I put together our house for this year. Like I said graham crackers and hot glue until you get something that you like. We have made these for years so we kind of have an idea of what to do to so it turns out according to our idea. Most years our houses are pretty similar, but never exactly the same. Since it's a Halloween house you want it to look run down and haunted. So perfect lines and perfectly broken crackers are not needed. In fact the more mismatched it looks the better. Then com...

My cute husband indulges my love of decorating for holidays. He never complains and often helps me get things done. Luckily for him he likes Halloween. His birthday is at the first part of October and he always asks for a different kind of cake. This year though my daughter and I decided that he was going to get a Halloween themed cake. We even picked out a monster looking one that we wanted to try. Then my husband decided that he wanted to have a cake that we refer to as Brownie Delight. It is yummy layers of yumminess! But it has to be made in a regular cake pan. So our monster idea was out. But I was still determined to add a little Halloween to it. We decided to make a graveyard on top, but weren't exactly sure what we were going to do when we started to make the cake. The entire recipe is at the bottom of this post but here's how it goes together. I forgot to take a picture of the first layer. It is just a brownie layer. In fact the recipe calls for your favorit...