Organizing Pays!

I have a confession to make: I have a problem, a serious addiction. I am addicted to organizing. Some people smoke, others drink, I go through my kitchen cabinets to figure out how to keep my pots and pans organized. I was going on an organizing binge when I came across some old gift cards that were misplaced in the shuffle of moving. I decided to keep them organized by putting a hole punch through one side and putting them on an extra key ring I had. Then after putting all the gift cards onto the ring, I decided not to stop there. I also pulled all of the membership cards I had cluttering my wallet and purse and put them on the ring also.

Next, I decided to check the balances on all the gift cards and write them on the back with a permanent marker so that when I went to use them I would know how much was available to spend. This revealed to me that I had a few Best Buy gift cards that I had a large balance on. I have been looking to get an in expensive camera to throw in my purse and bring to parties and events. Several years ago my family surprised me with a Canon EOS 30D which is a great camera, but I wanted something that was a little more portable and I would not have to worry about as much as my Canon. I found a Insignia NS-DSC10B that was free with my gift cards, I only had to pay for shipping.
So, yes, I do have a problem with organizing, however it just earned me a digital camera! Without organizing I would not have found these gift cards for a long time, so it is a problem that I'm happy to keep for a while at least.

Love Your Home

I am learning to simplify my life, beginning with the things I keep in my home. My mother has a great way of evaluating things. When we were going through things in my room when I was younger, she would ask me, "Do you love it?" and if the answer wasn't a yes, then it probably needed to go to another home. This applies to so many things. That fuzzy sweater Aunt Lucy made you for Christmas five years ago that you will never wear, the socks that stay at the bottom of your sock drawer because they are stretched out, books that you have intended to read for ages but have remained unread, these are all things that clutter up your home and make it harder to clean.

By removing the things that you don't absolutely love from your home, and your life, you make it possible to fill your life with the things that are truly important to you. Take the fuzzy sweater, for instance. It might hurt Aunt Lucy's feelings if you tell her about the sweater, but give yourself room to be honest. If you hate the sweater and you have not ever worn it then chances are you probably never will. It is taking up space in your closet and you might even feel dread every time you look at it. You do not have to announce that the sweater is going to Goodwill, either, so you do not have to feel guilty about how Aunt Lucy might feel if she knew. She won't know and it's your house, so put it in the donations box! Removing things from your home that you don't want or love will make your home a place where you can be comfortable. Imagine if all of the clothes in your closet were all your favorite things to wear. Wouldn't that be great? You can bring yourself one step closer to that dream by removing the clothes you don't love, or can't fit into.

Late Night Couponing Adventure

It was not my intention to go couponing tonight, but I found myself dreading going to bed alone and was missing my husband, so I thought it would be nice to have a little distraction. There is a Mega Sale this week at Kroger, so since I am less than 5 minutes away from a Kroger I thought tonight would be a perfect night to find some good deals.
My budget was $50, I hoped to find some low calorie snacks, yogurt, possibly some Mountain Dew for my husband when he gets home, and I wanted to check the prices on things I usually stock up on like hot sauce and maybe some hair products. I have been waiting for a long time to find cheap or free toothbrushes, so I hoped to find some of those too. Here is what I ended up taking home.

Great Deal on Chicken

My mother has a membership to a store called Restaurant Depot which is very similar to GFS but is for business owners. We were able to get a great price on chicken, $1.25 a pound, when we bought a whole case. So, I got forty pounds of boneless skinless chicken breast but realized when I got home that I had no plan for all of this chicken. So, here are the quick and easy marinades I made all from things I already had in my pantry. After all, I had already bought forty pounds of chicken, I really did not want to spend money on anything else extra.
Here are the ways I prepared my chicken. All of these recipes are for 2 chicken breasts. After combining all ingredients in a freezer bag I put them in the freezer. It's great to know that I have a lot of different meals in the freezer that were easy to make and will be easy to cook. Any of these recipes can be put in the crock pot for 4 hours on high, baked at 350 degrees for an hour, or grilled. I love cooking but I don't always have the time or energy to come up with something different.

Italian Chicken:

• McCormick Italian Seasonings
• Oil
• Salt & Pepper

Thanks for the Bad Day and Horrible Hair! :)

There are days where everything just seems overwhelmingly horrible. Things that did not bother us days ago drive us crazy and all of the challenges in our life seem insurmountable. Yesterday was one of those days for me. My husband has been gone since November of last year and I miss him terribly. The only thing keeping him away from me is paperwork, and that drives me crazy. We usually can only talk on the weekends, but every time my phone rings I still wish and hope that it is him calling. I am not a person of few words, and so I feel so disconnected from him when we can't talk frequently. Most days I am alright, but yesterday I just wanted to talk to him and hear his voice.

My thirteen year old sister Sarah also went into the hospital with abdominal pain a few days ago, but was told that it was no more than she needed to eat more fiber. She just had her braces put on, so because her teeth were so sore she was primarily eating smoothies. In the process of finding out what was wrong with her, however they uncovered a large cyst on her ovaries. The ER doctor told my parents it was no big deal, but the pediatrician called the next day to tell them another story, that she needed  to be seen immediately and have it checked out. It should not wait. She has an appointment with the doctor soon, but I still worry about her. She has no idea about the cyst because my parents do not want to worry her needlessly. I feel so anxious about her, I did not know how to cope with it.

Weight Loss Without Radical Dieting or Exercise Part 2

I was so proud of the little changes that I had made, especially of eliminating late night snacking and having self control with the foods I loved. I also added more fruits and veggies to my diet which naturally are a lot lower in carbs then bread or pasta. I also started eating fat free snacks when I was craving sweets. Eating oranges instead of Ben and Jerry's does make a big difference.

It wasn't until this February when I moved into my new apartment that I got really motivated to start doing any major exercising. I felt the need to become a new person for the new apartment. After all, I had updated my home, why not update my body? I was also diagnosed as pre-diabetic and told by the doctor that the best thing I could do to help was to exercise and lose weight while watching my blood sugar levels and carb levels in each meal.

Weight Loss Without Radical Dieting or Exercise Part 1

We all want to change our bodies. We don't like our hips, our nose, or the way our hair never wants to stay straight in humid weather. Sometimes it's little cosmetic things, other times it is not so trivial. Sometimes we want to change so that our bodies are a healthy weight or so that we are fit enough to be able to take walks or jogs with our loved ones without being out of breath and exhausted.

When I got married I was 165 pounds. Of course, I still wanted to lose some inches, but overall I was proud of the way my body looked. I had worked hard to look good in my dress and I loved the results. After we got married I was diagnosed with a condition called Interstitial Cystitis (or IC) which is a non-bacterial infection in the lining of my bladder, I found myself in near constant pain and discomfort. It affected intimacy with my husband and I was constantly running to the restroom. A visit to the gynecologist helped me so much, she prescribed a medicine to help me manage the pain while dealing with other treatment options.