What I'm Loving Wednesday!

 

This Wednesday loving idea came to mind yesterday as I was checking out at Walmart.com

I have Walmart+ and I absolutely love it. If you hate going in store as much as I do and order online often, this could benefit you as much as it does me. It saves me gas, time and money. And it comes with Paramount+ if you're into streaming stuff. 

I have a link that you can use and not only will you get $20.00 but I'll get $20.00. It's a win win. For me it's been money well spent and this is from someone who hates to spend money. LOL! 

So if you click the link it should take you to the Walmart+ page and you can sign up and read all about the advantages of it.  

Let me know if you sign up or if you already have it and love it as much as I do. 

Have a great day!

Kim

What I'm Loving Wednesday

 

What's up everyone? Hope you're doing well.

 Back in the day there was a Meme called "Works for me Wednesday" I was looking back and realized I joined in a lot of Wednesdays and shared a lot of stuff. Be warned though. If you do happen to go back and look at some of those posts, it was a long time ago and the picture quality isn't what it is now. That's if there's even a picture still there because for whatever reason I've lost a lot of pictures in passed posts. But it is what it is I guess. 

Anyways my last post for that was in 2011 so I'm pretty sure I've got 12 years of stuff I've been loving so I thought I'd just revamp that with what I'm currently loving and pass that on to you, cause I know you wanna know. Right? 😁

Thus " What I'm loving Wednesday" is born. 

There was a lot of stuff to choose from but I chose to highlight something that's been around for a long time but hopefully I'm going to give you a couple of new ways to use it. 

I give you, the humble microfiber cloth.

 

I'm going to assume that most of you probably have these in your home and I'm sure you use them for the typical uses like dusting, cleaning windows, detailing your car etc.

But I currently found 2 more ways of using them that I am absolutely loving. The first way is as a dish drying towel. These things are SUPER absorbent and dry dishes so well. Other dish towels just smear the water around and don't really dry it. At least that's what the majority of my dish towels do. I'm serious give these a try, you'll be amazed. They also dry quickly which is a bonus.  That's what I use the bigger white ones for. 

The yellow ones actually come as a roll that you tear off and my hubby bought them at BJ's. Sadly I looked online and couldn't find them but here's a link to Amazon of similar ones that I'm sure would work just as well. The use for these came as a bit of an accident. I was out in my hubby's shop and if you wear glasses all the time like I do sometimes you realize you're looking through what looks like a dirty window. 😕Well I grabbed one of these yellow microfiber cloths and used it to clean my glasses and they came out the cleanest they've ever been. One beef I have with those "lens cleaner cloths" that they give you at the eye doctor is they don't actually clean your glasses. They've always just smudged them worse than before. But these do the trick. Now I keep one handy at all times. 

So tell me, if you do use microfiber cloths do you use them for purposes other than what's expected?  Do tell!

HUGS!

Kim

My Summer Bucket List!

 First of all my "What I'm Loving Wednesday" post got postponed due to technical difficulties. In other words my computer needed an overhaul and it didn't get done in time so that will be up next week. 

For now I want to share my Summer Bucket List. 

I like being intentional about doing things because things seem to get done more so than if I just wing it and let each day just go by. Also by blogging my progress it kind of holds me accountable to try my best to accomplish the list. And by list I mean all the "fun" things I want to try and do this Summer. This is the first official summer that I won't have a child in school. My youngest just turned 18 and is graduated! Woot! Woot! I feel so free! 😁

So without further ado, my list. 

And just because I no longer have young kids doesn't mean I don't have you covered. My Summer Board on Pinterest is full of fun ideas. Not to mention I have a ton of links to cute bucket list checklists like the one I'm using. So go check it out. 

Tell me, do you make a Summer bucket list? I'd love to see yours. 

HUGS!

Kim

The End of an Era!

 I never thought this day would come. The journey seemed sooooo long and tiresome but I'm here to tell you we made it. Our youngest has finally graduated. NO MORE HOMESCHOOLING!!!Woo! Hoo! I know some of you Momma's are like, awe...aren't you going to miss it? Nope. No. Nadda. Not one bit. (here comes an honesty bomb) It's no secret that I did not enjoy homeschooling my children. We did it to protect them from the garbage that is in our schools and I do love my children but other than that, yuck! It's not my gift. Am I glad we did it? Yes. Would I do it again? *insert crickets chirping*. Ha! Ha! 

So now you might ask, what will you do with all your extra time? I'm so glad you asked.  Oh I got plans and I'm kinda excited about the new found freedom. In fact I'm starting out with a bang by making myself a Summer Bucket list that I'll be sharing Thursday. I used to do summer fun with the  kids when they were younger but now that they don't need me like they used to I can be a little more selfish and plan some fun things for me to do this summer. I still believe in being intentional because I don't know if you've noticed but time goes by so much faster as you age. 

One of those goals is to blog more again. I feel like I can devote a bit more time to it and I always enjoyed it as a kind of diary of my life. Not to mention the wonderful people I've met throughout the years. I know it's not as popular as it once was but I know that those that need to find me will find me and I'm not looking to go viral or be popular or even make money. I'm just going to do it for the pure enjoyment of it. :-)

I'm also trying to be more active on my Homesteaders Heart Instagram account. So if you are on Instagram, you can also find me there. 

One of the fun things I want to start doing is What's Working for me Wednesday. I don't know about you but I learn a lot of new things on the internet. Some of them are actually handy and I want to start sharing some of the things that I really love or enjoy or things that I've learned that are actually useful. I know when I go to buy something, I like to read reviews and comments about said thing. So this is kinda my way of reviewing things I've been using for a while and genuinely like. 

So there you have it. I've come out of hiding and I'm excited to see what's next. 

Let me know you're still around and I'll make sure I come by and say hello!

HUGS,

Kim

Gingerbread House Decorating Contest 2021

 Well nothing like going a whole year in between posts. Ha! But this is something that we've been doing for many many years now and I'm not going to quit posting about it now. 

We usually do these near the beginning of the month but this year we just didn't have time so we literally decorated these 2 days ago. And as usual I will give no clues as to who's is who's. 

Normally we name our houses but we didn't even have time to do that so in no particular order here are the houses. 

House #1

 

 

House #2

 

 House #3

 

House #4

House #5

Now we just need you to cast your votes. :-) And don't worry you won't hurt anyone's feelings. We do this for fun. 

Merry Christmas everyone!

Kim

 

Let's Talk about Supplements!

 Let it be known that I am not a professional. I'm just a 50 year old woman who feels really good and isn't on any medications. So take this information that I'm about to give you and do your own research. I'm just sharing because if you're like me, you want to feel good and might not know where to start. So there's that. Moving on. :-)

So I grew up with a mom who was always getting in on the latest trend. Microwaved eggs anyone? Blah! But one thing I always remembered her taking, was her vitamins. I'm convinced she's kept dad alive all these years as well. Go Mom! Now that they are 88 and 85 and have been married for 67 years, I'd say whatever she's been doing has been working. They also had friends who made fun of all the supplements they took daily and unfortunately one of those has passed away and the other has a tirade of health problems and not living life to her fullest. Mainly because of diet and lifestyle. 

Now am I saying that if you eat pure, take vitamins and exercise that nothing will ever go wrong? No I am not. Stuff happens. Even to those of us who try really hard to do things right.  What I am saying is that it's worth giving it a shot because when those things hit, maybe you can get through them quicker or easier. 

I'm not going to talk about what I eat in a day in this post,  but I am going to show you the supplements I take in a day. 

Now this may seem like a lot and maybe it is but let's face it, as you hit middle age, no matter what you do, some things start to wear out. I've come to grips with it, sort of. 

Now I take stuff for my eye health, hormones, immune system, vein health, anxiety, dehydration and my heart. 

Here is a website I found that gives a run down of a selection of different vitamins and minerals and what they do, if you're interested.  

Now I don't suggest you stop taking any medications that you're currently taking but I do suggest you seek out a health care professional that specializes in nutrition helping the body heal itself vs. just masking a problem and not fixing it.  

Take the time to do your research. Invest in your well being. You are worth it. Your people need you to be around for awhile. :-) 

Also find an exercise that you enjoy and is fun for you. If you don't enjoy it, you probably won't keep it up.  

I love these two ladies and their videos. Easy to do inside with no equipment. 

Lucy Wyndam Read and Leslie  

And lastly, get outside and soak up some of that Vitamin D. It's so important to your health. In Florida we have it in groves but if you live up north and gray skies are the norm, them make sure you take a supplement. 

Okay, I think I'm done. *smile*

If you have any questions I would be more than happy to try to answer. I don't know everything but I have learned a lot over the years. 

Have a lovely day my friends.

HUGS!

Kim

 

Coasters Made With Recycyled Jeans!

 Well hello everybody! I thought I'd get on here and show you all a little recycled project I've been working on.

So I'm sure like me, a lot of you have been busy cleaning, organizing and purging since just after Christmas. Well on my journey of purging I came across a bunch of jeans that I said ten years ago that I was going to get rid of but never did. LOL! If you want a chuckle you can read about that HERE. I've literally been holding on to these jeans for over 25 years! Do I have issues? Yes, yes I do.

But as of a few days ago, I am one pair down. Yes, I actually cut one whole pair of Wranglers into different sewing projects I plan on doing. One of them I'm going to show you today. It's soooo super easy and fast. 

It's these cute coasters. 

They aren't perfect. In fact I'm calling them rustic. ;-) I was experimenting with fabric and different stitches and stuff to see what would give it the best edging. I think these last two are my favorite so far. 

I wasn't going to wait until they were perfect to show you because then I would probably never get this posted so here they are in all their glory. 

Now because they are denim (and not the new kind of denim, these are the sturdy, no give denim) I decided to just stack and stitch. No turning them out and then sewing because it's too hard with this kind of denim. So the stack and stitch is what I did. 

So basically you just stack and stitch. LOL!

I put a layer of batting in the middle for extra support and stability. I used Heat Bond to iron the heart on so it wouldn't move and was easier to sew around. I would suggest doing the same if you have it. And basically that's it. 

 Have fun with different stitches and fabric. You could even do a blanket edging if you wanted. The possibilities are endless. But I like to keep it simple because I have the attention span of a two year old sometimes. Ha!

If you're interested here are a few other projects that I made in the past with old denim jeans.

 Just a warning. I've been blogging for way over ten years and a lot of my past posts have terrible pictures. So you've been warned. In fact we've been in our home now for 10 years and all of these posts were from before that in our old house. So yeah.....

Note Pad Holder

Placemats

Apron

Have a lovely day my friends. 

Kim 

Let me know if you make these. You can connect with me on Mewe these days. I started a group for this blog where us gals can get together and have a fun community.

Gingerbread House Decorating Contest 2020!

 Well better late than never. I meant to post these over a week ago and got so busy, I forgot. But I hope you all are still able to cast your vote because we love doing this every year and look forward to sharing our creations with you.

Don’t worry about picking your favorite, we all do this for fun and no feelings are hurt, so pick away.

None of us had time to name them so I’m just going to put them in no particular order and you pick your favorite number. And if you’d like to give your favorite a name that would be great!!

So without further ado, the houses.

House #1

 House #2

House #3

 

 House #4

 

Well there you have it. Please take a moment to vote your favorite and I hope you have a Very Merry Christmas!!

HUGS!

Kim

Love Thy Neighbor

Easier said then done. Am I right?

I believe now more than ever people need to know that they are thought about, cared for and loved. I’m sure we can all agree that 2020 has kinda stunk. People are feeling isolated and alone and that’s not good for anyone’s mental health.

And neighbor doesn’t necessarily mean the house next door. It can mean anyone that is put on your heart to reach out to. Even that grumpy person that never smiles when you wave to them. Especially that person. *smile*

I just thought I’d share a few easy ways to reach out to people without being a freak.

But first a quick backstory. I started walking my street just over a year ago as a means to get more exercise in. Long story short, I have gotten to know a lot of my neighbors this way. So in light of how 2020 is going I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to show God’s love to these people. To show them that not everyone is bad. Which is what you start to think if you listen to the media too long.

So here’s what I’m doing. I am crocheting little pumpkin treat bowls and making handmade cards and handing them out to a few of my neighbors that I’ve gotten to know over the course of this year.

Here’s a few that I have ready to go. I’ve already handed out one and I’m making a couple more.

Now if you don’t know now to crochet, that’s okay. Here are a few simple ideas that don’t involve being crafty at all.

• A card and a just a cute bag of candy tied with pretty ribbon.
• Pumpkin spice coffee and a mug
• Special Autumn flavored tea and a mug.
• A card with a $5.00 gift card to a nearby coffee place.
• Or you could simply give them a nice card or even just a treat bag of candy. One or the other. 

The idea is to not overthink it and to not make it too expensive that you can’t afford to. Simple is best and I believe that even the simplest gesture will not go unappreciated. AND here’s the bonus part, it keeps YOUR mind off all the garbage that’s going on in the world and helps you focus on others, which in turn makes you feel a lot better!

So what do you say? Are you going to reach out to someone around you? Even if it’s ONE person. That one person matters.

If you do something please come back and share. If you’ve already done something please share and kudos to you! Also if you have ideas to add please do so in the comments so others can see. :-)

HUGS!

Kim

 

My Daughter's Etsy!!

 Hello everyone! I thought I'd get on here and show you some of the cute things my daughter is making and selling in her Etsy shop. She's kinda my hero because she has 3 kids 5 and under and is pregnant with her 4th that's due next month. AND has managed to restart her Etsy store and offer all these cute items and more!

Take a look at some of the Autumn/Fall items she has available. And if you manage to make it to the end of the post there is a little surprise for ya!

This crocheted pumpkin slice is ADORABLE!!! It's one of my favorite items.

 

 

 

These pumpkin earrings are perfect for ushering in the pumpkin spice season. AmIright?

 

 

How cute are these fox earrings?

 

 

She's also got a little something for Halloween. But these are too cute to be scary.

 

 

 

If you're interested in seeing what other things she has hope on over to her Etsy shop MarywoodMarket and check it out. 

And how cool is this? She has a coupon code just for my readers. Put in HOMESTEADERSHEART upon checkout for 15% off your order. Whoop! Whoop! Now go shop. Also if she's sold out of something she usually gets things back in stock rather quickly so check back often.

Have a wonderful day my friends!

HUGS!

Kim

Stay Away!

 I don't know about you, but 2020 has been exhausting. Mentally, spiritually, physically, emotionally. You name it, it's exhausted me. It was getting to the point that all I could talk about was what was going on in our country. All the chaos and confusion. And I'm here to tell you something, I was plum wore out! I knew I couldn't go on that way. If you feel the same way, I'm about to tell you the simple solution that has helped me over the course of this week and hopefully moving forward.

Stay away from social media and the news. The End. But seriously, it's just that simple. I haven't looked at Facebook or Instagram and I for sure don't watch the news, and you wanna know what? I started to laugh again and think about other things again. I was spending more time in the word. (super important) I felt like crafting again and decorating my home again. I basically found myself again. I'm a happy person at the core. If you've been here long enough you already know that, but I was so bogged down with all the things that I somehow lost myself in the midst. 

Now I'm not saying that everything on social media is bad. BUT! It seems that for as much good, there is as much negative and I couldn't maneuver my way around it all so I just took a complete break from it. I encourage you to do the same. Maybe for you it's once or twice a week, but I at least encourage you to do something. Stress is terrible for your health and believe me, you probably aren't missing much. So do yourself a favor and stay away. Take the break. Do the things you love. Be around the people that make you happy. Read a good book. But most importantly stay close to the Lord because He's the only way we're going to make it through to the very end. 

I love you all and I sincerely hope you are all doing well. Tell me how you've been keeping sane.

HUGS! 

Kim

Gooseberry Patch Cookbook Giveaway!!

Get excited people!!! It's giveaway time! Giveaway is now closed. Congratulations to Brenda Peterson and Barbara Ann!!!

Those of you who have been following me for awhile know that I used to review and giveaway Gooseberry Patch cookbooks ALL. THE. TIME.  I'm a little ashamed to say that these should have been given away a long time ago but they got tucked away and forgotten about for far too long.
But better late than never I say.

Here are the deets for the cookbooks you have a chance to win.
The first one is: 303 Simple and Satisfying Recipes. This is basically 3 cookbooks in one. You'll get all the recipes from 101 Easy Everyday Recipes, 101 Slow Cooker Recipes and 101 Cupcake, Cookie and Brownie Recipes in this one cookbook. Woot! Woot!

 

 The next cookbook is: 303 'Round the clock Recipes. In this one cookbook you'll be getting all the recipes from 101 Breakfast and Brunch Recipes, 101 Soups, Salads and Sandwiches and 101 Cozy Casseroles. 

 Now for the fun part. Read carefully so you know of all the ways to enter. It's actually really easy.

1. Leave a comment on this post and you're entered.

2. Leave a comment on my Instagram post and you're entered. 

3. Leave a comment on my Facebook post and you're entered. 

You can leave a comment on each post so you will have up to 3 entries total. 

There will be 2 winners chosen randomly. One book per person. I will decide who gets what book. And just for fun, I might throw in a fun little surprise. 😁

Unfortunately I need to restrict the entries to the U.S. Most importantly please make sure there is a way I can contact you in case you win.You have until Sunday at 6pm EST. I'll announce a winner on Monday March 2.

Good Luck!!

Kim

The Ministry of Ordinary Places- Book Review

I am going great guns this year. Already two books down. Yay me! I wanted to start another one right away but I had to write this first or the books will start to combine in my noggin'.

My dear friend Patti read this book and talked about it on her blog. I knew I had to get it and I'm so glad that I did. 

Being a stay at home mom and wife for over 23 years now, I struggled with my identity for a long time. I kinda forgot who I was and what I am capable of. I didn't think God was going to be able to use me because A. I'm an introvert B. I am a homebody. (refer to point A) C. I'm all about minding my own business. BUT with that said...... When we moved off the beach 9 years ago and onto a, for the most part, quiet dead end street, He's been stirring my heart to get to know my neighbors. Now ya'll know I'm not about to go up to people's houses, knock and say, "Hi, I'm you're neighbor and God wants me to get to know you." *insert door closing quickly* So I was like, "Good luck with that God."
Rewind to last Summer. I was working out on a regular basis, inside the comfort of my own home of course. Then all of a sudden I wanted to start walking to add a little extra something to my regimen. Ya'll know that was God because it was in the middle of summer and in the 90's even at night. So I started walking in the evenings when it wasn't SO hot. Do you know when most people get off work? In the evenings. Something else you need to know about me. I'm in introvert but yet overly friendly. I'll wave to who ever is driving by. I'm kind of a freak. Anyways, everyone waved back. It became a thing. When they didn't see me for a day they would stop and ask where I was because I became quite a fixture on the street now. This opened doors for yelling hi to people when I saw them outside and so on. Fast forward to about 7 months. I have weekly conversations with some of my neighbors outside their homes now. I had one neighbor tell me that she would like to hang out with me because I make her laugh. So what started out as me just wanted to get in better shape was used by God to connect with my neighbors. I'll keep you posted with what happens in the future if you're interested.

Now all that said, this book just confirmed what this introverted goofball was feeling and knowing all along. It was the biggest confirmation of things that I've ever gotten. It may not affect you like it did me but I'm sure you'd still gain something from it if you are trying to figure out how God can use you.
I purchased my book on Christianbook. I love that website. Books are always on sale it seems and if you shop the sales or the crash and dent sales you can get brand new books for just .99.  It's worth checking out. OR you could check out your public library. Click HERE to take a look inside this book and decide for yourself if it's something you think you'd enjoy.

As always I'm not getting paid for this. I bought my own book and these are my own thoughts. *smile*
Let me know if you've read this or plan on it.
HUGS!
Kim

The Journey Continues!

If you've followed my blog for any amount of time and you've recently stopped by you may have noticed that I've changed my header. I just felt like I had outgrown the other one because my kids aren't little any more and I feel like my blog isn't the same.

I started blogging on blogger 12 years ago this February. I was blogging before that on another platform but consistently here on blogger. I've had my times of super blogging where I blogged almost every day to times where I might have blogged 3 times in a year.

When I started my blog I had 3 young kids at home and I was desperately trying to navigate my way as a wife and mother. Heck I'm still doing that but my youngest is now 14 years old, my oldest is married with 3 kids of her own and my middle child actually just started his first job today. Life is changing around me and I'm trying my best to keep up.

So as I've looked back at some past blog posts, I have to laugh. There are now broken links to videos that no longer exist, terrible picture quality, so many memes that I joined in on, and who remembers the blog awards that were constantly handed out? LOL! Things truly have changed. My kids used to give me all sorts of good blogging material. Now, not so much. I think they are too busy trying to grow up and figure things out for themselves.

I never really found my niche on here and it's probably why I never became global. LOL! Oh I'm so kidding, about the global thing, not the niche thing. I was just a gal blogging about life. And my blog reflects that. I love looking back at some of the stories. It's like a little diary for all to see.

Now as I move forward in the next phase of my life, can you say PERI-MENOPAUSE, being a grandma, the worlds okayest mom and awesome wife to my hunkalicious, I'm still not sure what this blog will become but my goal is to connect with people, encourage people and probably at some point make people giggle. So if it's your first time here, welcome! I'm so glad you stopped by. If you've been here a 1000 times, welcome back. Things have changed, yet stayed the same.

With all that said, I hope you find my small space on the world wide web worth stopping by and saying hello.
So for this gal, who's ready to turn 50 this year......The Journey Continues!

Have a lovely day everyone.
Hugs!
Kim

Atomic Habits!

Book one of the year is done and it was a great one. The link I'm going to share HERE will take you to Christianbook.com where it gives a great summary about the book. AND you'll be able to look inside to see the table of contents and a few pages from one of the chapters. Go ahead and check it out, I'll wait, but make sure you come back because I'm going to share more on how I'm implementing a couple things already.

I already shared one thing in this post that I'm doing to start a new habit and in one of the chapters he talks about habit stacking. It's where you take a habit that is already in place and then stack a new habit that you want to start on top of it. For instance. I wanted to make sure that I get a workout in some time in the morning. I looked at the things I do every morning and saw an opportunity to stack this new habit on top of me doing breakfast dishes. So now when I get done doing dishes I'll go right into my workout. It really does work. The only time I miss a morning workout now is if I have to go run errands in the morning. Blah, errands, they mess up everything. *smile*

Another habit I wanted to stack was wanting to read more. So I looked at my opportunities and realized that in the morning during my coffee and quiet time I have an opportunity to read after I get done drinking my coffee. So now when I'm done, I'll grab my book that is conveniently sitting right beside me (remember make it easy) and read at least a chapter.  And that is definitely working because I'm almost done with my second book. Which I am absolutely loving by the way.

So what do you think? Sound good? These are just my honest thoughts. I'm not getting paid to recommend this book, I just like to share the things that I'm enjoying and find helpful.

Let me know if you get it and how you like it. Okie dokie?
Have a lovely day my friends.
Hugs!
Kim

Refreshed!

It's been almost 2 weeks since the new year rang in and I am finally at a place where I feel refreshed again. The holidays, as fun and exciting as they are, are exhausting. The party planning, dinners, shopping, decorating, undecorating etc. it's all great but still a lot of effort.

So within the first two weeks of the year I like to sit back and think about the past year and make plans for the new one. My poor hubby's birthday is right smack dab in the middle of those two weeks but I always try to make his birthday special regardless of what I'm trying to accomplish at that moment. You know, cause I love him and stuff.

Anyhoo, one of the things I ponder about every year is what do I have to offer this world? Who am I and what makes me different? I have some things stewing in my noggin' and will share soon but one thing I will share is that I love to make people laugh. I'm not going to blow your mind at my organizing skills or my cooking skills but getting people to laugh or at least giggle or smile is something I'm good at. It doesn't always come across so much in my writing because I don't know if my sense of humor is word worthy. But in real life you'll find I'm kinda of a nut. A very mature and responsible nut but a nut just the same. ;-) With that said I have two things that I want to work on this year and one of them involves a dinosaur suit and a YouTube channel. Say what? Yeah, and the other one I'll touch on in another post.

Also I finished reading the book Atomic Habits and will be sharing my thoughts in my next blog post.

What are you all pondering for the new year?
Have a lovely day!
Kim

Making Habits Easy!

I'm almost finished with this book I'm reading and I have to say it's been one of the most beneficial books I've read in a long time in terms of applicability. 

I'm going to write a more detailed review about it when I'm completely finished. But one of the things that struck a cord is, in order to make a habit work, make it easy. So I'm going to show you one thing I did in order to make a habit easier to start. 

 

Below I have a picture of my study area. I leave my planner and my bible open to make it easier to just sit and read and then look at my planner. It skips a couple of steps of having to go get them and then open them to the proper page. It's a time saver and having them out keeps them in my view so I won't forget to check them. I love that!

After I read the book I'll have more thoughts on how I'm applying the methods and how they are working out for me. Let me know if you've read the book and what you thought about it.

Have a lovely day friends.

Kim

 

My Word for the Year!

Well it's the beginning of a new year, a fresh start. There is just something exciting about starting over. I can't help but get excited about what's to come this year. I also get excited knowing that I can, to some capacity, have some control over it and how it goes. That's one of the reasons I like to come up with a word to focus on throughout the year. I've done it in the past a few times and it's always fun to look back and see how it affected me and my decisions. 

This year I really wanted to come up with a beautifully clever word. I've been seeing a bunch of other people's and they just seemed perfect but then I didn't want to copy them. I really wanted something that was personal to me and then it hit me, so here's my word. 

It is soooo not fancy or even beautiful but as I was thinking about how I wanted to be this year there was a clear focus on making myself a better person inside and out and so FIT was born. I even did a sort of mind mapping picture in my planner. 

I'll break it down for you how I've got it sorted out in my noggin'. 

FIT

Mentally: Do things to stay sharp.

• Puzzles
• Read more books
• Games

Spiritually:

• Read bible daily
• Pray often
• Church
• Quiet time

Physically:

• Walk outside 5-6x a week
• Ring Fit exercise 
• YouTube workouts
• Eat on plan
• Take Vitamins

Emotionally:

• Quit reading negative things
• Be kind to others
• Take my perimenopause vitamins

Try not to throw any:

• Think before I speak
• 10 deep breaths when feeling angry

So basically I want to be mentally fit, spiritually fit, physically fit, emotionally fit and then try not to throw a royal fit. A lot of the things listed I already do so the habits are already there but there are definitely things to improve upon. Listing them helps keep me focused on what improvements I need to make. 

How about you, do you have a word that you focus on throughout the year? Goals? Resolutions?

Do tell!

HUGS!
Kim

Reflecting on 2019

You know, I almost didn’t write this post because it didn’t end up feeling like I wanted it to but it’s an honest reflection of the past year.

As I sat pondering what to write, my first response was to make it as uplifting and exciting as possible, but then it also seemed like that would be superficial and that didn’t feel honest. Fact is when I reflect on 2019 I honestly felt like I just coasted through. I didn’t do anything mind blowing and it wasn’t even terrible. It was just meh.

Yes of course there were some fun and happy and downright laughable moments but there were also some very personally reflective and hard moments. So if I had to wrap the whole year up in a word it would be “meh”.

Personally, I don’t want to live a “meh” year again and I think that’s why my word for the year, that I’m going to post about soon, is perfect.

So although this post ended up not being much of a reflection it was however a motivation for me for the next year.

What’s motivating you these days?

Have a lovely day friends.

Kim

And the Winner is.....

……hold on before I tell you I want to give you a little behind the scenes of the night. Or you can just scroll down to the bottom real fast to see the winner. 

So the night went something like this. My poor son put the icing in the bag before he put the plastic tip in and then wondered how he was supposed to keep the tip on the bag and I had to break the news to him that he was supposed to put the tip in first and so this is a result of him having to take the frosting out put the tip in there and then put the frosting back in. He bounced back quickly and got right to work. 

We didn’t buy any extra candy this year because we had so much left over from last year so we basically just used what was in the box and what we had on hand.

I knew for sure that I had to up my game as my hubby has won the last couple of years and I felt like I was loosing my edge. *smile* But then my youngest really upped his game and I was feeling a little doubtful halfway through. 

I wasn’t worried about my older son’s house, as his was funny but not Christmasy and Christmasy always gets the votes. Am I right? 

My hubbalicious surprised me with his approach and I’m pretty sure most everyone thought that I probably made that because I love me some polka dots but alas, I did not. 

It took us many hours as usual but we always make the memories and are always so happy to share our houses with you all. Thank you so much for those of you who voted.
Now to announce the winner. 
The winner is…..

KRINGLE’S COTTAGE!! WHICH IS MINE!!!!  Okay sorry for yelling, I’m just so excited. I totally took this competition by a landslide. Like not even close! Woo Hoo! Okay sorry again for tooting my own horn a little. But in your face family. LOL!!! I’m kidding! …..sort of.

 

Did you guess that was mine or did you think mine was the polka dot one? Do tell.
Have a wonderful day my friends.
HUGS!
Kim

So to recap. 
Kringle's Cottage was mine.
Polka Dot Palace was hubby's.
Voter's Villa was our 17 year old son's.
Snoopy's House was our 14 year old son's.
And if you missed the original post you can find it here.