Not enough "stuff"

Josh and I moved just shy of two weeks ago, and if there is something that I have learned, it’s that you never know how much stuff you “need” until you move to a bigger place.

Our very first apartment after we got married was so short lived that we didn’t even bother unpacking all of our boxes. And the second apartment was lacking in space to say the least.

So when we got into the current two bedroom and two bath, it was a shock to our system.

Within just a few days, we were made incredibly aware of the things our new apartment “needed” to make it feel more like home and had even begun creating a list of the “priority” things to buy.

Our list has things like a dining room table, office furniture, stools, etc. Which would of course add to the feeling of “completeness” in our home, but not one of those things listed was something we “needed” within the last year.

For instance, the dining room table. We have been sitting on the floor around our coffee table since day 1 and we have always made it work. Of course it would be wonderful to have an actual table to sit at, but the crazy desire to make giant purchases to fill our new home with the things we are “lacking” was kind of a wakeup call.

It’s interesting to see and experience just how quickly you can feel like you don’t have enough. Thankfully, Josh and I have decided not to rush the purchases and have instead been focusing on the incredible accomplishments we have made so far. Looking around our home, we are incredibly proud of what we have done together. We are blessed beyond measure and in time, we will be able to make the additions we want.

I encourage you to evaluate your life in the same way and not get caught up in the desires you stumble into. Anything worth having is worth the wait and work to get it. 

God's timing

It’s been quite the week for Josh and me. We have officially been in our new home for a full week and I cannot even begin to wrap my head around how we were able to accomplish so much.

We are completely unpacked. There are photos and art hanging on the walls in each room. We got Josh a new car. Our licenses have been switched from IL to WI. The fridge has been stocked. The sofa bed for the guest room has been ordered. A huge area rug was ordered and is currently under my feet. And we have even begun the puppy search.

I swear that I don’t think we have had a single “bored” moment since our move. Which is completely different from the moves we have made before. There is something about knowing Josh is no longer in school and has a full time job that makes this process feel more solid.

Every time I turn around, I am reminded that God has truly led Josh and I to this place. When the prospect of us moving here was initially on the horizon, I was freaked out and really hesitant. I didn’t want to be far from family or move to a place where we had no friends. But I decided to pray about it. I asked God to either close the door and open another or make me peaceful about the move.

It didn’t happen instantly, but over time, I was no longer afraid of the move and even began to get excited about it. So I continued my prayers. I asked God to oversee every single detail of this move and to make it easy. Again, my prayers weren’t answered as quickly as I would have liked, but I received answers as I needed them. (I tend to be impatient and like answers immediately).

If I learned anything from this move, it would definitely be that my timing is not what is important. God is going to work things out and it will always be on His time. And if I’m honest, his answers (though they weren’t as fast as I wanted) were better than I could have imagined. Trusting God with the path of my life is hard, but I know that ultimately anywhere He leads Josh and I will be perfect.

The (un)submissive move

I’ve talked before about being a submissive wife, my desire to understand that concept and implement it into my life.

As luck would have it, our move gave me the prime opportunity to put to practice all that I have learned. And to be completely honest, I would give myself a failing grade.

The move kind of started out as my project. Since Josh was tackling finals and his bar applications, most of the moving prep fell on me. Which I love. Packing, organizing, and purging are some of my favorite things. I love order and seeing progress.

However, when he finished his semester and was home with me, he began to dive into the process too. And our personalities really started to rub the wrong way 2 days before the move. We decided that we wanted to put everything that was packed in our room and that we would live in the family room. That way we could get a visual as to what needed to be done and could still somewhat function. Part of that plan was to not block furniture because we needed them to be in the back of the truck.

Well, my husband is a do-er and rather than plan it out and make room for the stuff we were going to bring into the bedroom, he just started doing. Which of course led to a very quick lack of space and need to re-organize. And because I was getting nervous about the move, my attitude quickly shifted from pleasant to annoyed. All I could think about was how annoying he had made the process and what I would have done better. (Not what you want in a submissive wife).

This kind of thinking (and even commenting) carried on for the 2 days prior to the move and on moving day itself. You see I color coded each box so that it could be unloaded into the room it belonged in, but instead every box was put in the center of the living room. Which completely defeats the purpose of the color coding.

By the time we got to our new home and were half-way unloaded, I was tired and getting cranky and the comments of how “I would have” done things were coming more and more frequently, and with way more attitude.

When the unloading of the truck was done, Josh and I drove to return the U-Haul, and I had the epiphany that I was failing at being submissive to the plan my husband had for our move. He had his own way of thinking about the move that was completely different from mine, not worse or better, just different. And instead of being a pain I should have just opened my mind to doing it his way instead of getting annoyed.

Talk about a bummer realization. The one trait I have been working on and I completely blew an opportunity to put it to practice. So I humbled myself, and apologized. I told Josh that I was sorry for being difficult rather than hearing him out and following his lead.

Despite my failure to be submissive to my husband’s plan for our move, I certainly learned. I know that I am a work in progress and that with continued practice, I will be the kind of wife God has called me to be.

Food worth trying tonight

Let’s talk food. For the few days leading up to our move, it felt like all Josh and I did was eat junk in an effort to clean out our refrigerator and pantry. By the time our actual moving day rolled around the thought of mac and cheese made me want to be sick. So that is when we began caving and ordering out. (Not so awesome for the budget, but much appreciated to the taste buds).

Things like Jimmy Johns kept us sane until we were officially moved into our new place and our new fridge and pantry was restocked. Which opened the door to us actually cooking things that were healthy and delicious.

We have had 3 things in particular that were just phenomenal, courtesy of Pinterest, and I will share them with you here. Granted, we didn’t have all of the ingredients (either because we don’t like them or didn’t remember to buy them) but they still tasted great. So if you are lacking an ingredient or two (as long as they aren’t the main ones) make it anyone. Your variation may be even better than the original.

-          The first recipe I made was Quinoa Stuffed Bell Peppers:

http://damndelicious.net/2013/06/03/quinoa-stuffed-bell-peppers/

-          The second was Spinach Pesto and Mozzarella Pizza

                        http://www.iheartnaptime.net/spinach-pesto-pizza/

o   I used fresh spinach, sautéed it in a pan with garlic and olive oil

-          The third was Feta Stuffed Bell Peppers (Which I paired with salmon seasoned with pepper, garlic, and parsley flakes, with feta on top)

http://www.giverecipe.com/feta-stuffed-red-bell-peppers

o   To be blatant, I didn’t even read this recipe, I just stuffed mini peppers with feta, sprinkled with olive oil and pepper, and cooked in the oven for 20 minutes at 400 degrees.

The move!

It's been quite the week! Josh and I are officially in our new home and working on getting things set up.

The move wasn’t as cookie cutter as I had expected, but I truly believe that it was anointed by God. (You may recall that I was nervous about moving to Manitowoc, and praying for God’s direction). And He definitely provided.

Over the past few days, Josh and I have accomplished so much. We got all of our stuff into our new home, ordered a couch, got a new car, ordered an area rug, and even checked out a local church. It was clearly a super productive weekend.

I’m excited for the new adventure we are on and I can’t wait to figure out why God brought us here.

Here are some pictures form our first weekend in the new place! (More to follow once we are set up!)

Customer Service

Customer service is an important aspect of any company. But let’s face it, not a lot of companies are getting it right.

Yesterday, I had to deal with 2 different companies customer service.

The first encounter really sucked. The individual on the other end of the phone didn’t care enough to listen to my actual question that she began spouting off an “answer” for something I wasn’t even calling about.

It took about 5 different rephrasing’s, sitting on hold, and plenty of frustration before she stopped trying to answer the question she thought I was asking and just listen to me. By the time I got my answer it felt as though I had done her job for her and I was eager to get off the phone and never call back again.

Thankfully, my second customer service experience went way better. And oddly enough it was at Verizon, where Josh and I found ourselves for about 3 hours yesterday.

Now before you think, “O my gosh! Three hours!” know that it only took that long because our customer service rep was trying so hard to help us.

In fact, we went in looking for one phone and ended up changing our minds to a different one because he was so knowledgeable about the different phones he sells. (Josh’s iPhone completely died yesterday so he needed a replacement ASAP).

And when I asked if there was any way that I could use my upgrade early so Josh and I would be on the same upgrade cycle, he called 3 different people trying to finagle my plan to let it work.

He was by far the best customer service individual I have seen in a long time! So shout out to the guy at Verizon on University in Madison! You were awesome!

It is so important to me to deal with knowledgeable and friendly customer service reps and when I have to interact with a company that is doing a great job of it, I get excited. The “chore feeling” of dealing with customer service goes away when you get to work with people who know what they are doing. Hopefully it won’t be long before companies realize this and make a stronger effort to improve theirs.

Cardboard

Our apartment smells like a cardboard box, and we essentially look like we are living in a fort made by children out of boxes they found lying around at home. (Think of that show “Out of the Box” but way less cool).

No one tells you what a pain in the butt it is going to be packing up all of your belongings when you live in a small, downtown, one-bedroom apartment.

There is literally no space for us to stack filled boxes that will allow us to continue walking through our home with ease. At this exact moment, if you wanted to exit our apartment you would have to slide two box towers away from the door. It is certainly not ideal.

But we have to press on.

One week from today Josh and I will be heading out to our new home with all of our stuff stacked in the moving van and our car. So we really don’t have time to procrastinate the packing process. Which unfortunately is going to be leaving us completely inconvenienced for the time being.  

As I look around at filled boxes, empty boxes, and an array of our belongings sprawled all across the apartment, I wonder how people have managed to move out of small spaces before us? Is there an easier way to pack up your stuff without worrying a tower of it will come crashing down on you?

I’m being serious. Someone has to have figured this out.

Well, I have to get back to tackling this project, you can expect an update if I have some sort of epiphany related to somehow simplifying the packing process if you live in a small space. 

Spinach Pasta

Time to share another recipe!

Since Josh and I are moving in a week, the name of the game is to use up all of the food we currently have in our cabinets and freezer. So I spent some time last week making a list of what we have and then came up with meals that would use it up. (Of course I had to get some supplementary things but it was basically stuff like sour cream, milk, etc).

On top of my mission to use up our food, I also want to start making more Pinterest recipes. I pin food stuff all the time, but what good is that if you never make them. Luckily, some of the things we have in the house I am going to be able to try some new recipes with.

One of the recipes is a spinach pasta. It seemed simple enough, only 5 ingredients, garlic, pasta, spinach, olive oil, Parmesan, salt/pepper.

And I also got lucky because the recipe was super easy to follow and really fast. So if you are in a pinch and need a quick but delicious meal, this one is worth the try.

-          Bring a pot of water to a boil and cook the pasta

-          While the pasta is cooking, set aside roughly 3 cups of fresh spinach (more or less is strictly up to your preference)

-          In a bowl combine 3 tablespoons of olive oil, and 1 ½ tablespoons of garlic

-          Also have ½ a cup of grated parmesan cheese nearby

-          Once the pasta is cooked drain it, but save ½ cup of the pasta water (you may or may not use it)

-          While the pasta drains put the garlic and oil mixture into the pot you used to cook the pasta and heat it until fragrant

-          Toss in the pasta, spinach, and parmesan cheese and mix well (the spinach will wilt)

-          Then season with salt and pepper according to your taste preferences

-          (IF the pasta gets hard you can add some of that pasta water you set aside, when I made mine I didn’t need it, but you may)

Then Enjoy!

Loss

Loss of a loved one is always something difficult to process. And to be completely honest, I had no intention of writing about loss today, but I was confronted with another this morning and it is completely consuming my thoughts.

This morning I received a message from one of the girls I grew up with letting me know one of my best friends from grade school passed away last night. I’m not going to get into the details of how or even share more about her than the fact she was an old friend. The point of this post today, is more focused on the memories, and cherishing people while you have them.

I had some very special memories with this girl. For example, one year on my birthday, my mom pulled us out of school for a spa day. We got to have our nails done, hair styled, and more girly fun stuff. Then of course there were the sleep overs, school sports, youth group functions and just general friendship stuff.

After I heard about her passing, I was in shock. I didn’t really believe she was gone, and I didn’t know how to even process that. Especially since we didn’t talk much at all anymore. But I started to think about the memories we shared, and the different stories with her in them. I remembered just how important she was to me in that time of my life and how glad I was to have those memories.

And I think that’s kind of how it goes. People come into your life for different reasons and seasons. You get to make memories and share life experiences. Then life will shift you in different directions and sometimes relationships don’t stay the same. And that’s not a bad thing. But it’s important to remember the times you got to spend with someone and always hold on to the memories.

Mother's Day

It’s Mother’s Day weekend! Happy Mother’s Day to all of the moms out there! I hope you are spoiled by your loved ones.

My brother’s and I have concocted something special for my mom this year. You see, my brother Nolan and I both live out of state. He goes to school in Kentucky and I live in Madison with my husband. So it’s not every day that we all get to be together.

When I asked my mom what she wanted to do for Mother’s Day she said “see Nolan.” So my youngest brother Aidan, and I got on the phone and asked him to come up for the weekend. I knew it was going to be a far-fetched offer because it’s a 7-hour drive and he graduates the next weekend, but he agreed.

So that followed with 2 weeks of keeping my mom from finding out. Which is a challenge for me, I suck at keeping secrets. Especially when I am excited about something.

Thankfully, today is the day. Nolan is driving up as we speak and my mom has no idea. I cannot wait to get the phone call after she sees Nolan. She will be shocked and so excited.

And in honor of my mom, here is a pic of me with her and her mom!

Salmon, Cauliflower, and Peppers

Yesterday’s dinner was SUPER healthy! I mentioned before that I would share the various recipes that I tested out from Pinterest as Josh and I are on a quest to boost our health level. So today I will share the recipes for what we ate last night.

We had oven cooked salmon (I didn’t destroy them this time), cauliflower mash, and oven roasted peppers.

My initial plan for dinner included the cauliflower and salmon, but I was fortunate enough to catch the fact that I had a couple mini peppers left, so I added those too.

Here is how I cooked the fish:

-          Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and pull out pieces of tinfoil large enough to wrap your fillets in individually.

-          Spray the tinfoil with anti-stick spray and lay the fillets on

-          Sprinkle a few drops of lemon juice and olive oil on the fillets

-          Put a spoonful of garlic on each fillet and spread out evenly across the fish

-          Sprinkle on pepper, hot pepper flakes, and oregano

-          Close up the fillets in their tinfoil and set on a baking dish

-          Cook in the oven for 20-35 minutes (depending on the fillet thickness)

For the cauliflower mash:

-          Cut a head of cauliflower into florets and place into a pot with about an inch of water and begin to boil and steam the cauliflower

-          Once the cauliflower is tender, drain the water

-          Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil, ¼ cup of milk, pepper, ½ cup of shredded parmesan cheese

-          Mash to desired texture (I used a hand-mixer, that got a little messy) and set aside or keep on a low flame if the fish still has a while to go

And finally the roasted peppers:

-          Wash and slice the peppers into bite sized pieces

-          In a bowl add the pepper pieces, some olive oil, and pepper

-          Stir it up and then lay out on a tin foil lined pan

-          Sprinkle with salt

-          Put in the oven with the fish (I cooked mine for the entire length the fish was in which made them a little charred and delish)

***As a disclaimer, the amounts of each ingredient are estimated because I rarely measure when I cook, I just add how much I think looks good and based on our taste preferences!

I hope you enjoy!

Packing supply run around...

I have the worst luck at the stores in the Madison area. 

First it was TJ Maxx, which I love, but the one closest to me up here has next to nothing in the clothes section and I never find anything. Now, the Dollar Tree completely let me down.

Yesterday I mentioned that I was excited to tackle Packing Supply Shopping there and it did not at all go how I had hoped.

Their shelves were a mess, which I will give them because I assume they were maybe doing inventory or stocking, but almost every section had an immense amount of bare spots and was lacking in variety.

At Dollar Tree I was able to get 3 things. 3. Such a disappointment. No packing tape, masking tape, colored Post-Its, or cleaning wipes. All I was able to grab was bar soap, Saran wrap, and foam plates.

So that meant I had to find another store. Right next to Dollar Tree was a Shopko so I decided to give that a whirl. I don’t frequent Shopko but I figured it carries similar things to Walmart and I really didn’t feel like going to Walmart.  But of course, that didn’t pan out either. The other half of my list was COMPLETELY overpriced in my opinion. I’m not even kidding when I say they wanted $6 for a single roll of masking tape and $6 for a stack of Post-Its.

I left and dragged my butt into Walmart. Thankfully their prices made it worth my time and I was able to complete my list.

I suppose the moral of the story is to be familiar with different stores and their pricing so you have a fall back plan when the store you were counting on lets you down. You also should go pick up your packing supplies far enough out from your move so you don’t get annoyed if you can’t get everything at the first store. 

Packing Supplies

Good Morning! It is going to be a fun day. I am going shopping today to buy stuff for our move! Woo hoo!

Ok, that may not be everyone’s idea of fun, but I truthfully am looking forward to it. I don’t mind packing and am getting really excited about this next adventure Josh and I are embarking on. And part of that adventure requires going to the store and picking up different necessities to aid in the packing process.

I have been scouring Pinterest looking for the best moving tips and tricks people have shared. And I mean I have been scouring! I am not just pinning things about moving, I am actually opening up the Pin and reading the article to make sure it’s worth me holding on to. (Not my typical practice for the other categories I Pin for).

While there have been a lot of duplicate ideas and others that are just not worthy of their time (I am not cutting handles into every box!) I think I have come across enough that will make our move somewhat seamless.

I am even more excited because I love saving money and all of the ideas I found can be implemented for next to nothing.

So today I am going to head over to the local Dollar Tree. I always forget about this store which is goofy because you can get a lot of decent stuff for $1! Thankfully most of the articles I read mentioned they grabbed their supplies there so I have it stuck in my head to go there.

You may be wondering what kind of supplies someone who is moving needs, and to be honest the list isn’t extensive. In fact, most of it is common sense stuff:

·         Packing tape

·         Masking tape

·         Foam plates

·         Saran Wrap

·         Clorox wipes

·         Bar soap

·         Colored Post-Its

I can’t wait to get started! Stay-tuned for exactly how I will use each of these items once the packing process begins! 

Healthier Eating

Well, our kitchen cabinets are close to being empty so that means it is time to hit the grocery store.

Since we are only going to be in this apartment for 16 more days, I will not be stocking our shelves like I normally would. But I am also on a mission to bring healthier food choices into our home. And instead of waiting to do that after we move, I want to slowly begin implementing them now.

It goes hand in hand with Josh and I wanting to get healthy, and since our workouts are now routine, the next step is to work on our eating habits.

I have frequented Aldi since we got married but I have not been taking full advantage of their healthy options. So I am excited to go and see what they have to offer.

Eating healthy has been something Josh and I talked about for a long time and has always been a goal of ours. But we never took action and made changes. I think it had to do with being overwhelmed by what we would have to “give up.” I mean, pasta and bread is delicious, who is ready to part with that?

But I have been giving it some thought and realized that we don’t have to make Earth shattering changes. We can begin by simply choosing the healthier options of foods we like. For example, since we love pasta, I can pick up whole wheat instead of regular. It’s a simple fix but one that won’t leave us hung up on giving something up.

I wish I would have considered this sooner, but it’s better late than never. I am excited to see what kind of physical changes Josh and I notice after we begin our healthier eating. Plus, there are so many great recipes out there, I will definitely be trying those and sharing the ones we like!