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January 28, 2012 http://www.livingproverbs31.wordpress.com became www.livingproverbs31.com.  Please head over to www.livingproverbs31.com for all future posts!  Thanks for visiting!

A quiet moment of brutal honesty

Remember when I this post from this morning? I bet you pictured me curled up in a quiet chair reading Proverbs 31, drinking my delicious shake while my children (dressed in clothes from Children’s Place) quietly played with those adorable wooden toy made by the Melissa & Doug on the floor nearby. Maybe there were even some quiet hymns playing in the background. And Rowdy was curled up on my lap. You probably pictured me wearing cute & cozy matching top & bottom pajamas with some ironic print like penguins or hairbrushes on them. I bet you thought my hair was adorably disheveled and that I just spent the morning reading and thinking, thinking and reading in my clean and tidy house. Have I gone too far yet? Have your realized that I’m being ridiculous?

I typed that post standing in my kitchen which is a complete disaster area AGAIN. I do my best to keep it up, but eating at home most of the time really takes its toll on your kitchen. I typed it wearing workout clothes (gross workout clothes, at that) with hair that resembles Albert Einstein’s (only more reddish). My kids were running around without shirts on playing ninjas–and for part of the time, I was running around right there with them.  I did keep my shirt on, though :).  I had to move a bunch of stuff off the counter to even get that picture….in fact, take a look at what my kitchen REALLY looked like when I got up this morning:

Please don’t tell my mother.

I just don’t want to be one of those bloggers who takes a nice picture and writes up a nice post and makes it look like her life is not total chaos some of the time.  Blogs are fantastic because they give us little snippets of each other’s lives and I wanted to bring you into a more real picture of mine.

I’m pretty sure God’s just as okay with me standing over my messy countertops reading His word while my kids run around screaming like banshees.  I think sometimes we feel like to get into the Word, everything has to be peaceful and calm.  My life is never like that.  I fit in time for reflection whenever wherever I can, and shoot up prayers like arrows when I can’t.

For what it’s worth, PJ, my kitchen looks better now than it did in this picture :).

A moment of quiet reflection

As we near the end of the first month on Living Proverbs 31, I want to take a moment of quiet reflection on why I’m doing what I’m doing.

The Woman Who Fears the Lord

10 An excellent wife who can find?

She is far more precious than jewels.

11 The heart of her husband trusts in her,

and he will have no lack of gain.

12 She does him good, not harm,

all the days of her life.

13 She seeks wool and flax,

and works with willing hands.

14 She is like the ships of the merchant;

she brings her food from afar.

15 She rises while it is yet night

and provides food for her household

and portions for her maidens.

16 She considers a field and buys it;

with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard.

17 She dresses herself with strength

and mades her arms strong.

18 She perceives that her merchandise is profitable.

Her lamp does not go out of night.

19 She puts her hands to the distaff,

and her hands hold the spindle.

20 She opens her hand to the poor

and reaches out her hands to the needy.

21 She is not afraid of snow for her household,

for all her household are clothed in scarlet.

22 She makes bed coverings for herself;

her clothing is fine linen and purple.

23 Her husband is known in the gates

when he sits among the elders of of the land.

24 SHe makes linen garments and sells them;

she delivers sashes to the merchant.

25 Strength and dignity are her clothing,

and she laughs at the time to come.

26 She opens her mouth with wisdom,

and the teaching of kindness on her tongue.

27 She looks well to the ways of her household

and does not eat the bread of idleness.

28 Her children rise up and call her blessed;

her husband also, and he praises her:

29 “Many women have done excellently,

but you surpass them all.”

30 Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain,

but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.

31 Give her of the fruit of her hands,

and let her works praise her in the gates.

The response to this blog has been unbelievable and I am enjoying every second of it. I’m so thankful for each one of you and the awesome things you say and do. We’re growing in God together despite many of us not seeing each other face to face and that’s a pretty amazing thing. Here’s to an amazing month and 11 more (or more, who knows?!) to go. Cheers, friends.

Also, I found this in an old Bible this morning–Matt had underlined it one Sunday morning during church….look at the date: September 27, 2001.  We were 19 years old–how very, very, very, very, very far we’ve come.

Ladies Room Fashion Show

Top layer top: Plato’s Closet
Bottom layer top: Thrifted
Jeans: Old Navy
Boots: Crocs

I threw this outfit together in a hurry when our little group decided to go out for dinner instead of cooking in Saturday night. I’m a sucker for the t-shirt over a long sleeved white shirt look, but this is just a little bit more grown up. I’m excited to use this shirt to transition into a spring wardrobe in a couple of months!  Yes, this mirror is FILTHY and if you look close, you can see Ariel in the background :).

Dress: Thrifted
Shirt: Gap Outlet
Belt: Thrifted
Leggings: Wal-Mart
Boots: JC Penny

I so very much loooooove this dress. It’s super comfy and yet it has a dressy look. And it looks pretty when I twirl. I added the orange chevron belt (out of a scarf) upon the advice of my awesome readers and I have to say, I think it looks pretty darn good. I wanted to tie it all together with an orange bracelet that my husband brought me back from Africa but when I put it on I realized it needed to be restrung. Ah, well.

Top: Thrifted
Skirt: New York & Company (a million years ago)
Tights: Payless
Shoes: Payless
Bracelet: Lia Sophia

I felt very professional in this outfit. This sweater always makes me feel good about myself and I received several compliments on this outfit. There’s an older teacher at my school who dresses really hip–any time she compliments my outfit I’m on top of the world. I can only hope I can dress as cool as her when I’m her age.

Top: Old Navy
Undershirt: Target
Coat: Target (from COLLEGE)
Scarf: Gift from SIL

An actual ladies room picture! Why so surprised in this picture?? Matt and I got to go on an unexpected weeknight date to see War Horse. We’ll try to see all 9 of the Best Picture nominees–3 down, 6 to go! Next time I’ll go with a dress and leggings for the movies, soooooo much more comfy than jeans and knee high boots.

Top: Thrifted
Jacket: Garage Sale
Belt: Thrifted
Pants: Thrifted
Boots: JC Penny

This is it! This is the inspiration outfit!! I do feel like it looked better than it photographed. As I mentioned in my sneak peak, this outfit didn’t really get to see the light of day. Be looking for it to reappear in the coming weeks! And weigh in on if you think I look more like Snow or Han Solo!

Hat: Goorin Bros

Top Layer Top: Plato’s Closet
Bottom Layer Top: Betsy Walker fan tee
Jeans: Hand me down from my skinny friend, Christy

Just because you’re stuck in the house with sick kids doesn’t mean that you have to scrub it out. I spent my Christmas money on some awesome hats from Goorin Bros. My hair’s waaaaaay to short for a pony tale, but it’s nice to have a slack-off day option. This is my first hat from Goorin Bros and I was really impressed with their customer service and quality of hats.  Be looking for more Goorin Bros hats to be making appearances in upcoming Ladies Room Fashion Show posts!

Cardigan: unexpected gift from my sweet friend, Suse
Tank: Target
Pants: Thrifted, repurposed into Skinnys
Shoes: gift from my SIL

My awesome friend Sue surprised me with this sweater in the mail yesterday! I love the color and the pattern. I decided to do something crazy today and not wear boots. I know, I am as shocked about it as you are. I love this outfit, though, and I felt great in it all day.

I can’t believe it’s Friday already or that this is my fourth ladies room fashion show! What did you think of this week outfits? Or any of them hits or misses??

LRFS Sneak Peak

This week’s LRFS inspiration comes from one of two places.  My awesome babysitter said I look like I pulled inspiration from Ginnifer Goodwin’s “Snow” on the new show Once Upon a Time (which if you’re not watching you totally should be).

I LOVE this show and my original idea for this super-short haircut came from Ginnifer’s short-but-sweet coif.  I was thrilled by this compliment.

However, right before I left for work, Matt had told me that my outfit looked like it was inspired by…..

Hans Solo.

So, which one was it?? Well, I’ll never tell.  I only wish I could have actually worn it.  I had on this “inspiration outfit” the day The Flash got sick all over the aforementioned awesome babysitter’s porch.  But the people at Wal-Mart seemed to appreciate it when I stopped by on my way home for supplies :).

DIY–Making Your Own Eye Make-Up Remover

Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. Proverbs 31:30

My friend/cousin-in-law, Jess got me some of the fabulous Mary Kay Eye Make-Up remover and a long sleeve of cotton rounds a couple of years ago for my birthday. I used up that one, and I think I bought one more bottle and I really liked it. The next time I ran out, I didn’t have the extra $15 (when you include shipping) in my budget that week to replace it. Most days, I use water-proof mascara and eyeliner and I was used to the good stuff, so whatever I came up with had big shoes to fill.

To the internet!

I googled “make your own eye make-up remover” and one of the first recipes I found sounded really simple. It was, in fact, so simple that from Google search to clean eyes took me about 10 minutes (and that’s just because it took me about 5 minutes to find the baby oil). I was lucky in that I had all of the ingredients in my home that night. Chances are if you have a child under 5 in your house, you do, too.

The first thing you’ll need is a good container. The smart thing to do would be to save an old eye make-up remover container and use that. I wasn’t that smart. This bottle was a discounted bottle of face wash I got at CVS. I’d saved it because it was simple and looked like it could be useful someday. I now save all bottles I come across that look like this for my DIY projects.

The next thing you’ll need are the 3 ingredients: baby oil (I had an unopened bottle I got as a shower gift), tear-free baby shampoo (I used Aveno because it was unscented) and WATER. That’s it, folks–and they charge upwards of $10 for this stuff. Unbelievable.

Depending on the size of your container/your own preferences, you’ll want to adjust the recipe. I’ve changed the recipe a bit to suit my own liking. Here it is:

1 teaspoon tear-free baby shampoo

10 drops (think drops here people, small drops) baby oil

Fill up the rest of the container with water.

Shake.

You’re done. Seriously. How easy was that?? I figure I have enough baby oil in that bottle to be able to make my own eye make-up remover for the rest of my life. I do shake it up each time I use it. Just squirt a small amount onto your cotton round of choice (more on that later), rub on your eyes and be eye make-up free.

Crazy-Ridiculous List of Things I’ve Been Accomplishing/Want to Accomplish Today Because I’m at Home (again)

Saturday I said that I could happily be stuck inside for days.  It’s funny how you say something and then God gives you the opportunity to prove it.  Sunday I was stuck at home by myself with Ariel because of the pipes.  Yesterday I was home by myself (allllllllll day Matt got home at 9) with a sick Flash and  a I-don’t-know-what-to-do-with-myself-when-my-brother-isn’t-telling-me-what-to-do Ariel.  The Flash was still barfing at 9:30 last night (TMI, I know), so I called for a sub again today.  The good news is that The Flash has felt much, much better today, but I’m glad I kept him home because he’s still been pretty low-key today.

So that’s three days that I’ve been stuck in house by myself (not to mention Saturday when we were all 4 home) with the kids.  And I’ve gotten some awesome stuff done, but I confess to getting a little stir crazy today.  Maybe it’s because of all the laundry I’ve doing/trying to do.  Maybe it’s because Ariel is quite literally climbing the walls.  Maybe it’s because even after all the work I’ve done, I still feel like this house is a mess.  I don’t know.  All I do know is that my brother is coming over in a little while and I cannot wait to see him.  For reals.

Here’s what I’ve been working on today:

—This post.

—Workout with Biggest Loser

—40 minutes on elliptical machine (broke up into 2 sets due to kiddos)

—Run dishwasher

–Unload dishwasher

—3 loads of laundry

—Lysol everything

—Finish forum for school

—Conference call with student teacher

–Tidy up main level of house

–DIY Post

–LRFS Sneak Peak Post

–LRFS Post

—Shower

—Wax Eyebrows

–Enjoy my children for the fabulous toddlers that they are

That should keep me busy 🙂

Ariel’s Princess Day

A week ago today, we took our precious Ariel to see Disney Princesses on Ice. We took The Flash when he was about the same age and it was neat to see how both kids reacted to the experience in completely different ways.

Me & The Flash at Disney on Ice in 2009

When we took The Flash, he was thrilled to have our undivided attention. Ariel barely knew what to do with herself. She was thrilled to wear her princess dress, though.  I will say that by the time she had her cotton candy & snow cone she pretty much had the hang of it :).

Yup, we went to Disney on Ice and we bought some of the ridiculously expensive Princess Swag.  And, of course, I’ve read articles like this and this and this.  And to that, I say this:

My little girl likes pink and spider man.

I really think that’s the best I can do.  Because of her brother she’s exposed to a lot of super heroes and ninjas, but all on her own, she likes pink & princesses, too.  I think she’s a fantastically eclectic mix of tom boy and girly girl all rolled into the most awesome almost-three year old girl I’ve ever seen.  I’m crazy about my little princess.

We do our best not to spoil our kids.  They can navigate a garage sale like nobody’s business and are no strangers to Goodwill and Once Upon a Child.  I love this about our family and have no desire to change whatsoever, but it’s nice to splash out every once in a while.  When we took The Flash, he got a toy, a snow cone and some cotton candy.  Oh, yeah, and the “audience participation” light.  Our family does a cash system where we put money into different categories each week.  (For the record, we’ve never Ramseyed–not that we think it’s wrong if you do, we just never have.  He didn’t invent cash. You: gasps. Us: WE KNOW!)  We had budgeted for this and treated our little princess to her heart’s desires for one special night.

If you’ve never been to Disney on Ice, please know that the prices are exorbitant.   Plan for this, budget for this, but for the love of Pete, do not complain about this.  Especially in front of your little princess.  You’re at Disney On Ice, for heaven’s sake.  For us, taking one child at at time and only going once every few years allows us to make a very special night of it for our little ones.  They are only little once.

Matt calls this pose “The Mommy.”

This way, Daddy!

Dragging Daddy over to the princess stand.

Her lantern flashlight thing.  Look at that face.  Swoon.

Her cotton candy came with a crown and stickers.  Being a girl is awesome.

She’s pretty excited.

The show we saw told the stories of  The Frog Princess, Cinderella and Tangled.  Tangled on ice is pretty incredible.  Ariel’s favorite princess is, well, Ariel, and The Little Mermaid skated for about 3 minutes of the 90 minute performance.  My Ariel didn’t care–she loved every second of those 3 minutes and never took her eyes off her favorite princess.  I know her time of loving princesses and wanting to go to Disney on Ice with Mommy and Daddy will be all too brief, but my plan is to follow her lead and enjoy it for the sweet, precious, and fleeting time that it is, not asking for more or less.

Happy Princess Day, my sweet, sweet girl.

Crazy-Ridiculous List of Things I Want to Accomplish Because I’m Home with a Sick Kid

She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Proverbs 31:27

Well, The Flash made it all the way to my awesome babysitter’s house before vomiting all over the porch.  The good news is that she was totally cool about it.  I ran over to school and put some lesson plans together so that my kids at school would have good stuff to do today and even managed to get  a sub for today (thanks to the ladies in the office, my student teacher, my awesome babysitter and whoever my sub is for today for helping me out at school today).

So I’m home today and while I’ll be spending most of my time caring for my sick boy, I can probably squeeze in some crazy-ridiculousness.  Here’s what I’d like to accomplish today:

–Wash all of The Flash’s clothes from today, coat included (yuck)

—Finish off the laundry from the weekend now that the pipes seem to be working (yea!)

–Put away all the clean clothes

—Put away the dishes in the sink

—Make cherry limeade

—Keep Vomity McVomiterson out of the cherry limeade (it’s red and stains everything) So far so good.

—Make vitamin water for The Flash

—Make Jello

—Keep Ariel entertained and away from The Flash This involved me bringing in the water table and filling it up in the kitchen.  But hey, people, desperate times call for desperate measures.

–Run 40 minutes on elliptical machine

–Work on some stuff for Master’s Classes

—Make freezer enchiladas

–Deal with the giant (I swear, it’s growing) pile of papers on my table.

This list may be a little ambitious, seeing as it’s taken me almost an hour to write it and I’ve been interrupted many, many times by my little guy.  Taking care of him (and his stinky sister) is definitely at the top of my list today!

Weight Loss Wednesdays

Last week I promised to tell you about the last “key” to my weight loss.  It’s pretty simple: faith.  It sounds so simple and yet it’s so complex. I knew that The Bible was the best place to start but I never know where to start.  Now that I’m working on this Proverbs 31 thing, I think I’d have a better handle on it now, but this was back in June and I wasn’t where I am today.

Fortunately, I found a fantastic book that helped guide me though the process in a faith-based way.  Candace Cameron Bure, yup, DJ from Full House grew up, got married, became an awesome Christian, lost a ton of weight, kept it off, became a mom, started working on Make it or Break it, and wrote a book (maybe not in that order).   This book is full of tips, tricks, good solid weight loss advice, and best of all, is completely faith based.  I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Here are a couple of my favorite pieces of advice (paraphrased):

–Most people over eat.  When dieting, they replace delicious “bad food” with tasteless “good food.”  They say things like “I can eat all the carrots and celery I want.”  Why would you eat all the carrots and celery you want–you’re not breaking bad over-eating habits, you’re just replacing bad food with good food.  Eventually, you’ll given into your cravings and be right back where you started from?  Why eat all the carrots and celery that you “want?  Why not just eat all the carrots and celery that you need?

–Exercise and healthy eating should be a family affair.  This isn’t ground-breaking, but she’s got great advice on this topic.  She also shares practical advice for Christian working moms.

–God should be a part of your weight loss journey.  He’s your best chance for success.  Candace includes a ton of great scripture to enlighten, encourage, motivate and challenge you with your weight loss and maintenance.

So, if you have the means, go buy Reshaping It All by Candace Cameron Bure–or check it out at your local library.  Mine had a copy and maybe yours will, too.