On the Fence about Flowers

Alright. When it comes to flowers from my hubs, I have quite a mixed philosophy. There's part of me-we'll call it "Cheapskate"-that immediately wonders how much he spent on them and then thinks about the things I could have bought for that amount that would not die in a week. Then there's the other part of me-we'll call this one "Romantic"-that is just not willing to give up the notion of a surprise bouquet. Now, I've never fully talked this out with my dear Jono, but it seems that he has picked up on my flower quirkiness and found the perfect middle ground. Today, which by the way is our 9 year anniversary, he popped home for a minute from work to deliver a fresh bunch of buds to me. They were winners! No, it wasn't 9 red roses. I love roses, but I'm always drawn to those mixed bouquets that have lots of colors and different flowers. And that's exactly what it was. There were a couple of roses, some daisies, chrysanthemums, and some other flower and really cool greenery that I have no idea what they are. It was great because the Cheapo part of me didn't kick in since it wasn't a huge "Flowers R Us" rose presentation. In fact, for the sake of this post, I asked Jono to reveal the price. After much promising that the cheaper they were, the more wonderful of a gift they are he told me that they were just $10!! Now that's romance-that-will-die-in-a-week I can handle. And they're so bright and colorful and happy!
Now here's my trick to always making these cheaper bouquets look their best. For some reason, most people get a bunch of flowers, grab a vase big enough to hold the bunch, and stick them all in. This works sometimes, but I much prefer to find a bunch of my smaller vases and distribute all those little flowers around. They look better because they aren't all crammed together and those non-rose, small buds seem to stand out more when they're cut down a little shorter. Plus, more rooms in your house get to be graced by their presence. So, for $10 I now have 4 arrangements (which reside by my kitchen sink, on my pub table, in my living room, and in the guest bathroom) instead of one. It just makes me wanna sing!!
So there you have it. Unless you just can't appreciate a flower that isn't a rose, save a bundle of money and go for those mixed, grocery store bouquets. Split 'em up and it'll look like you just went for a walk through a meadow with your basket and collected them yourself!!
And, since I'm hoping that my girls are reading this one day in their twenties, I thought it would be neat to mention how in love I am with my Jono on our 9 year anniversary. Since it fell on a Wednesday and he had to teach, our surprise festivities begin tomorrow afternoon. But I made him an adorable (read:embarrassing) little badge to wear at church that said: "Heather's Hubby: 9 years of marital bliss. 09-08-01". It may have even had a little glitter on it. Of course he cringed, but it's kind of a tradition for me to make him wear some ooshy-gooshy thing on our anniversary. But we are madly in love and the best of friends. My babies may have weird parents, but they at least have parents that love each other like crazy. And I'm seeing more and more that that is not as common as it should be.

"Purge the Kitchen Week"

I realize that this is the third post in a row about food. What can I say? I like to eat.
Every now and then, to test your creativity, you should resist restocking the ol' pantry and fridge and see how long you can create meals out of all of the random things that have been sitting in there forever. Dinner may look a little funny...frozen corn, wild rice pilaf, and turkey sandwiches. Or maybe baked beans, alfredo noodles, and Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Regardless, it's fun to stretch your grocery money an extra week and start seeing some empty shelves in your pantry/fridge/freezer. Plus you find the things that it's time to throw away or maybe donate to a local food pantry. If you're not willing to eat it during "purge the kitchen week", you're probably never gonna eat it.
Tonight was nearing the end of said week at the Long house, and there was hardly a side to be found to go with our leftover bbq sandwiches. I'm proud to say that my dear family didn't voice one complaint at the white rice that I served alongside it. And then we had a bowl of muscadines for dessert. I was just determined to get another meal or two out of what we have. It may have something to do with my aversion to grocery shopping on beautiful days like we've been having. But whatever the reason, our bellies are full and my cupboards are quite bare. And I love seeing empty spaces in my house. There's just something relieving to me about it:)

Meals on Wheels

Today's project that I would like to pass on to my dear daughters is...take a meal to someone. A sweet couple that we are friends with have a 1 month old baby girl and the daddy had to have surgery this weekend, so we delivered a meal to them and got to check up on them, talk a little, and of course hold that precious baby. I know from being on the receiving end of many good meal deliveries that having such a basic need met during seasons of transition and/or recovery is priceless. And it's one of the few forms of help that people are more apt to be willing to receive these days. For instance, I begged that new mommy to call me one night when she realllly needs some sleep and let me get up with the baby and handle feedings and just hold her. But I doubt she'll take me up on that. I probably wouldn't. You just feel like, "I can't ask someone to do THAT much for me.". But if you call someone up who has had a baby or surgery or just got home from adopting or even just for no good reason other than spreading some love and say, "Hey. I wanna bring you and your fam some dinner tomorrow night. Is that ok?", you're much more likely to get a green light. And if you aren't of the culinary type, there's always Pizza Hut and KFC and even grocery store delis. No one really cares if it's homemade. It's showing you care and relieving someone of cooking duty for a night.
A lot of people in the church world are quite familiar with the idea of delivering meals to fellow members, but I say let's bust it out of the church. What about feeding the fam of someone you work with or a stressed out mom you know from your kids' gymnastic class or maybe one of your kids teachers or someone at your gym whose husband left them. It doesn't have to be ran through some church calendar meal ministry. There's something even more sweet and charming about it if someone knows that you just came up with it on your own instead of "signing up for it". Then again, I got a lot of "signed up for" meal deliveries after having each of my babies and they were appreciated as much as any spontaneous act of love, soooo...
Anyway, there's your challenge. Break out your best recipes, buy some disposable bowls and pans (it's always better when they don't have to worry about returning dishes to you), and be someone's dinner fairy. You'll be hard pressed to find someone who will turn you down.

The Lost Art of Potluck

There's just something about a bunch of people-some you know and some you don't know-getting together and each bringing some food to share. Hanging out, catching up with friends, getting to know someone new, all the kids off playing together...it's one thing that can make it feel less like the "modern age" with all the cell phones and technology and busyness, and more like a hundred years ago. A friend of mine had the genius idea to start a new tradition where she's inviting anyone at all to come over to her house for a yummy lunch the first Sunday of every month, and the first one was today. It was so much fun.
You can really break down a potluck dinner and find many amazing aspects:
1)They're cost efficient. In exchange for a homemade mac-n-cheese casserole and a chocolate peanut butter cake (which didn't really turn out that well), we fed our family of 5 an extreme amount of food.
2)There's something about eating with each other that just levels the playing field. In any other context someone's better and smarter and more experienced, but we all gotta eat and we're all pretty darn good at it. A conversation that I may be too intimidated to have in a meeting or over the phone seems to flow just fine over a big, ol' plate of fried chicken.
3)It can totally improve your mood. Now, this wasn't the case today, but there have been times when I was grumpy and had enough of the kiddos and mad at Jono and then went to eat with a big group of people. I start off faking my happiness and loving kindness towards my family and by the time we leave, that fake attitude has rubbed off and I'm really feeling quite pleasant towards them. Go figure.
4)It's free entertainment for the kids. Children who otherwise would be complaining about being bored at Six Flags are running around having the time of their lives with a stick and empty solo cups. When it's time to leave, they'll be begging you to stay a little longer.
I think that everyone should be a part of a consistent potluck dinner schedule. And not ones with ulterior motives, although those are fine. But to experience this phenomenon in its fullest glory, there can't be a meeting snuck in there. It's gotta be just food and whatever sweet convos happen to happen. So never turn down an invite to one. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that you should cancel anything that would prevent you from going to one and choose the potluck. And if you don't have a genius friend in your life who has instigated it, be brave and organize one yourself. It will be totally worth it. I've heard so many people go on and on about what a great time they had today. It was really wonderful. And there was no music or skits or clowns or magicians or tv or even games. Just- try hard to imagine- people talking and eating. That's all. It's surprising how simple we really are.

Make do with whatcha got...

...or at least try to. If you're anything like me, the time will come when you're tired of all of your furniture and ready for some brand spankin' new stuff. That time has officially arrived for me. I'm 7 years in and ready for a change. But all new furniture is expensive and I have 3 little ones out to destroy all things new (not to mention a little one on the way from the Democratic Republic of the Congo). I did consider saving up for new stuff, which is usually my method, but that just seems unattainable. It would take forever for me to stash enough moolah with all of the other things that we are saving for right now (adoption, Long Outreach Ideas, etc.). So today I decided to take what I have and do my best to make it look like what I want. We had day 2 of our yard sale today (which ended fabulously...$500!!), so since I was stuck out on the driveway anyways, I decided to do a little makeover. I have this side table in my living room that was this cheapo looking blonde wood finish that I've been hating for quite a while now and have often tried to sneak into yard sales only to hear Jono say, "If we get rid of that what are we gonna use?". Uh, exactly! Then we would be forced to purchase the awesome white one I want from Target! Anyway, so I had my dear hubby haul it out to the garage, I Googled some tutorials about painting furniture, then I started my project. An electric sander, some primer, a few coats of white paint, and some polyurethane later, I have a pretty amazing looking side table! To use some "interior design lingo", it really did have some great, clean lines. It was just that yucky wood color that had me grumbling. But no longer. Jono and I both love it and it only cost me the $17 can of Minwax that I sent him to the store to buy. I already had everything else. It looks so good that there were a few yard sale customers trying to talk me out of it, but I told them that unless they were willing to pay me the same amount as the new one that I would have to purchase, no deal.
I'm so glad I did it this way instead of springing for something new. 1) It is totally wipeable and waterproof so no need to stress about kids spilling or forgetting coasters. 2) When the kids ding it from throwing random toys while dancing, I won't be freaking out saying "Do you know how much that cost?!". 3) I am super duper proud of it and will probably blurt out to everyone who enters my living room, "I painted that!".
So if you ever find yourself grumbling about how much your blue sofas disgust you -Yep. They're blue...but only underneath the nice khaki slipcovers I got from Target. $100 in slipcovers is waaaaay better than a couple thou in new seats- take a deep breath, refrain from nagging your poor hubby, and think, "How can I take what God has already given me, be thankful for it, and reinvent it to make it last a little longer?". There is seriously very little that a can of paint can't do.
And it's almost as good as a visit to the spa when you get to say, "Hey, babe, keep an eye on the kids. I gotta go out to the garage alone with my Pandora radio playing and apply another coat to the table that I'm painting to save us from having to spend your hard earned money on a brand new one. Ok?" Ahh. Pure bliss.

Shed the Stuff

Never underestimate the therapeutic qualities of a good, old-fashioned yard sale. We had one today and I absolutely LOVE the feeling of bringing armful after armful of junk out of my house knowing that it will never again enter it. I literally spent the whole day going through every closet and drawer and nook and cranny in my entire abode and lugging it out onto the driveway where quite a crowd of people were digging through it and, get this, GIVING ME MONEY FOR IT!!! It was amazing!! Especially since every penny earned is going towards the adoption we are currently in the middle of. I found myself saying, "I truly am a minimalist at heart." And then I thought, "Actually, I guess we are all really minimalists at heart...wired that way by our Creator." You know? I really think that "stuff" is toxic in a way, and every now and then we need to strip our household down to the bare necessities. Kinda like how people fast to get the toxins out of their bodies (I'm referring to the diet, "health nut" fast...not the spiritual kind). And you would be surprised at how you just feel less stress when it's all said and done. It's like a diet for your house. And if money is not an issue for you (or you just hate the idea of spending a weekend bartering with complete strangers), pare down your belongings anyway and haul them off to a charity or thrift shop. It's never really about the money. In fact I always go into a yard sale reminding myself of this. It's about decluttering that special place you call home and knowing that everything that's left are really things that you love, use, or need. I mean, why does someone who doesn't drink wine need 18 wine glasses? And how did my extreme cheapness in the area of gift bags culminate in a HUGE bin of them for every occasion taking up at least 10 square feet of space? There are literally families in Brazil whose entire living quarters equal my ex-gift bag storage!! Absurd!
So go through your junk and quit holding on to those shorts you may wear next year or that microwave casserole bowl that some recipe may call for using one day. Even the little things that grandma gave you or are from high school...if it's not special enough to put in a prominent place, let it go. I make this promise to my kids: I will never come to your yard sale and have hurt feelings about things you're getting rid of that I gave you. In fact, I'll high five you and be proud of your ability to keep material things in their rightful place...they serve you, not the other way around. When they cease to serve you because they're crammed in the back of the junk drawer, send 'em packin'.
And let all that work be a reminder to try your hardest to accumulate less from now on. ("Hmmm, I just sold 3 tons of flip flops that I have never worn so maybe I won't go crazy this time when Old Navy has their $1 sale.")

Blog Revamp

So, if you haven't noticed, I'm lacking a little in the motivation department of blogging. Pretty much, I only blog when Jono guilts me into doing it. I am very thankful for my 8 sweet followers (including my mother, husband, friend that I begged to follow me, and sister that I happened to be on her computer and made follow me), but that's just not enough to get me typing regularly. And, the thing is, I really enjoy writing. I mean, not enough to stay up late at night writing a memoir or anything, but a paragraph or two a day sounds good. So I decided that I need to have a specific goal in mind to make me do the deed. I had the idea of posting every day about redoing my house little by little, but realized that there would be MANY days that there would be nothing to talk about due to time and money limitations. I also considered doing it "journal-esque", but, no offense, I really don't want my every thought and feeling floating around on the world wide web. So I finally decided that I will write a post a day about things that I would want my girls to read when they are in the season of life that I am now. My goal is to post about something that I learned, thought of, or did THAT DAY in order to motivate me to accomplish some projects as well. For instance, if I want to post about the importance of keeping your kitchen cabinets organized, I'll have to actually bust out the pots and pans that day. No vague posting about what could be. This way, I won't be able to talk myself out of blogging because, "What's the point? No one reads it." The main recipients are my precious daughters, and if anyone else happens to benefit from it (or get a laugh, or feel better about themselves), that's just icing on the cake.
I am actually extremely embarrassed and ashamed about what I would like to share tonight. But there's nothing like good ol' transparency. Do not give in to the temptation to get acrylic nails (or gel, or whatever new-fangled type fake nails they'll have 23 years from now)! I know that it is hard...especially when you see others with those perfectly manicured, shiny talons. And the way you love your cheapo press on nails now, I see it coming. I have given in to the temptation numerous times since my senior year (1999), and then swore them off...only to give in again. But as of today, I have a NAIL FUNGUS from those disgusting things. Stick a fork in me, I am done. Now, I know that you may think "That hardly ever happens", but there are a few other reasons that I would encourage you to stay away from those nail falsies.
First of all, short, clean, well-filed natural nails truly are the nicest, most sophisticated look. Time may change things, but never do you see a classic beauty sporting acrylics. Fergie, maybe, but not the Jackie O's of the world.
Secondly, what a waste of money they are!! You're talking $20-$35 dollars every 3 weeks (or 5 weeks if you try to stretch them like me)!! That's an expensive habit. And all for vanity. Do some research and you'll find that there are people in the world living off of about 30 cents a day. How dare I blow more than that on such a trivial part of my beauty regimen?! Really, how often do you hear, "Her best feature is her awesome, long, thick nails."?
So I hope that you will do what I am going to do. Every time I'm tempted (though, after having a stinkin' fungus I don't see that happening ever again!), I will figure out how I can give the amount I would be wasting away.
Let me pray about it: "Dear God, thanks for this $30 You gave me. Would you rather me give it to someone in need and show Your love to them or use it to bling out my nails?"
See. That makes it a little easier, right? :)

P.s. For all non-daughters reading this, I do not pass judgment on anyone who chooses the fake nail route. This is just a decision I've made and the advise that I would give to my babies.