Next Up...

Next up on the February New Habit Challenge I plan to tackle my dining room! Now of course this room coincides with the kitchen but because I decided to take the table out of there so I could use it to organize and move things away from kiddos while working (since there is a gate) then this room now is the worst room of them all. I have uploaded here what my dining room currently looks like, which in all honesty is making me insane!

Join me as I tackle this beast and you can also catch me over here! 

These projects take me forever to complete due to working full time and when I get home at night I try hard to focus on my family instead of cleaning but sometimes I get side tracked in starting something and not paying them any momma time.

Do you have any good tips to help a busy, full time momma like myself?

Kitchen Challenge Complete!

Thank the Lord! I am excited to say that I have completed my first February New Habit Challenge of getting my kitchen clean and organized. If you would like to see the outcome of my hard work you can click on over here to see it!

I probably say this more than you guys want to hear or read, but I was raised in a clean environment and my mother was a perfectionist. In some ways I feel that the way she was so "perfect" in cleaning and things that she did around the house caused me to despise cleaning and what not. As I now have my own children and also as I watch different YouTube channels on mommas and what they do daily to keep up with the busy life of not only working or staying home working, cleaning, children, etc. it has motivated me to really take a step back in my life and really look at what I need to start focusing on. 

My biggest issue I have discovered about my laziness to tidy and clean routinely is my daughter will sometimes comment after tripping over a toy or what not that made her fall or trip, "Mom you didn't clean this up!" I, of course, am taken back with a bit of anger and say, um little Miss I didn't leave it out! That is when I realize that oh, well maybe if I would insist on everyone, including myself, put things away after we are done with things then we wouldn't have this issue of clutter, toys, etc. everywhere.

Please join me as I continue to work on different areas in my life and home throughout the month of February to get set in stone my new habits of life. 

Progress Update on Cleaning

I have been working all week not only at my full/daytime job but when I get home in the evenings I head straight to the kitchen as soon as I can so I can get dinner started along with tidying and cleaning areas of my kitchen. 

The kitchen has been my main focus this week not only because of my blog/vlog challenge but because it is the place where we cook, gather, and enjoy each other with food. I can be honest, I definitely grew up a whole lot better taught than what I am portraying to my children. It makes me think deeper about what the heck I am doing and what is really important. I have seen so many different YouTube videos on organizing in many different ways, along with daily and monthly cleaning routines. I am striving extremely hard to be able to have that kind of routine because I am tired of clutter, tripping over something because we were all too lazy to pick it up, or just not feeling like we can enjoy our space as a family.

Monday I will be sharing not only my finished product of my clean kitchen but also introducing the next area I will be focusing on for the next week to come. I look forward to my accomplishments and also look forward to seeing what you have accomplished. You can find me at anyone of those social media links to your upper right of the blog to post your accomplishments.

Kitchen Cleaning Challenge

It is the second day of February and my main focus this week is my kitchen. Since the kitchen is usually the main room for all homes where everyone/everything tends to gather, I wanted to start it this room.

Ever since we have moved in, we have never had great storage in our kitchen because unfortunately we have too much junk! I have been watching a lot of different channels on YouTube that provide ideas on how to begin de-cluttering, organizing, and all other forms of getting into a daily routine within your kitchen.

To begin, this is what my disaster looks like...

Crazy/nasty right? I sure think so and lately I have become obsessed with getting things organized and trying so hard to get into a cleaning routine to ensure that my home is always company ready. Of course as you momma's know, that sometimes seems impossible to keep up with.

So my main goal the rest of the week is to completely accomplish organizing and seriously cleaning this kitchen of mine! UGH, I am ready to get started...

Let's GO!

You can join me with posting your successful pics on Instagram and tagging me @blissfullyssu

February Challenge Kickstart

I cannot believe that it is February already, can you? Well as I begin the second month of 2016 I am trying to become a successful blogger along with starting a vlog on YouTube (My Channel). One of my all time favorite channels to watch daily is organizedMOM because she is absolutely wonderful to watch and get motivated from. Her name is Christy and she is actually the one that inspired me to vlog. Hop on over to her channel and check her out.

With all that being said, my challenge for this month is to get a little more organized along with a daily cleaning routine. So this challenge will be either in blog form or vlog form. I have so many plans that I want to accomplish this month that I also want to share with you especially if you are a working momma like I am. Honestly, I am the worst at keeping my house tidy and picked up and it has only became worse since children have come into our lives.

That is why I feel I need to socially challenge myself to work on getting these new habits accomplished, would you be willing to help me and provide me with your tips?

Bible Study and the App I Use

Image from Google Images

I have really began to focus on my walk with God this year. I have been so blessed by His grace and mercy all these years and with so much that has happened within our lives, I felt I needed to pay more attention to why the good has happened to me and my family. I have this amazing app on my phone that you can get on iPhones and Androids; I absolutely love it! Not only does it offer you the Bible electronically and conveniently, but they offer so many different bible plans/studies that you can choose from. I have to be honest I have so many that I want to do that I have "started" but because there are so many I can't find the time to actually read each one daily.

With all of that being said, I have tried daily to ensure time with Him because He is the reason I am breathing. Usually my time with the Lord that I really sit down and focus on His word is after the Weston goes to bed and Reba rocks with daddy until they are both knocked out. While they are rocking, I am in our room doing multiple things. This is the time I get to work not only on my Bible study, but also my blogging, video editing for my vlog (you can find here) and just sitting on the bed and folding clothes while I watch YouTube.

I have also recently discovered Joyce Meyers' app and it has videos, teachings, etc. and I am gaining SO MUCH from her sermons!

The verse that I have decided would fit our marriage and daily life is from Proverbs 17:22

A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person's strength. (NLT)

This verse cannot be more true. My husband is so broken spirited and I told him that this was his verse because he needs to find joy and happiness. I am constantly telling him to stop worrying about everything so much and just give it to God because He will take care of it.

I would love to hear what your favorite verse(s) is?

New Year = Organization Time

Ok so how many of you actually plan or put on your New Year's resolution list to actually get organized either at home or at work? Well this year I decided that it was something I needed to really focus on.

As most of my friends know, I am not well organized at home at all! Well I have decided that I am going to start getting things together around here and just doing an all around "clean out" of my house. In today's world many (like me) focus on acquiring junk, nic naks, etc. But if we really sit down and think about it (which I have...FINALLY lol) being materialistic is not worth it. We seem to gather more and more junk around the house than what we really need. As I sit here writing this post, I look around at all the things that honestly I don't NEED. I just have them because I thought they would be handy to have, or I liked what it looked like, or just had that urge to spend money that wasn't necessary! So in 2016, my main focus is to work on becoming LESS materialistic, getting organized around my home and getting rid of any unneeded items within our home. There are just so many things that sit around and don't get used, so my opinion is to no longer store it and rid ourselves of this clutter.

This is another item on my "Overcome List" that I created for 2016.

Do you have any tips or ideas about organizing??

2016: Where I OVERCOME...

I have been a blogger here and there for several years and I am a faithful follower of a good friend of mine Joyfully Smitten's blog and she has done this for the last five years where she has chosen a word that fits her needs in life. It isn't a word that is just pulled out of nowhere, this is a word that has actually been laid upon her heart by God. It might be a word that he lays there to open her eyes to something, or something she may need to work on, etc. In 2016, @joyfullysmitten has been given the word "Thrive". I can't tell you what this word means to her, but if you check out her post about why this word is so important, it might give you something to think about for yourself...

Well I have done this one other time (that I can remember as a blogger). Since 2016 has officially started, God has laid a special word on my heart that is something I need in my life for the year. My word is OVERCOME. I have been given this word by God because there are so many things I know that I should overcome throughout the year, that maybe he has tried telling me but I seem to be too hard headed in listening.

Overcoming different obstacles or challenges within my life has been something I have a real hard time at accomplishing for myself. God laid this on my heart knowing what he knows and knowing that I would finally pay attention with the start of a new year (in my opinion). This word came to me several weeks ago and it was something I knew was meant to be; something I was supposed to focus on and especially work on.

I have started listing down things in my journal in which I would like to see myself overcome in 2016, of course the biggest is what everyone seems to put on their new year's resolution list...get fit/healthy! I know I put this on mine yearly but never seem to accomplish what it takes to get there. Thanks to our wonderful Father above, he is giving me that motivation, that spark, that mindset that I CAN OVERCOME my weight issue, my lazy personality, my sadness about my self image! He is truly an amazing God and I can't explain how excited I am to start overcoming the different things on my list for the year!

Do you have a word or phrase that is special to you for this new year of 2016? Would you like to join me on my journey of becoming fit?

I am thinking that with this new plan for the year, I may use YouTube to vlog my fitness and connect with you! Does that sound like a great plan? If so, I would love to hear from you.

2015 Highlights

It is honestly hard to believe that 2015 is almost over. Time flies as we get older and especially after we have children. I am still in shock at how big my kids are getting because I swear I just gave birth to them yesterday! Do you ever feel this way?

Today I wanted to take some time to reflect back on a few highlights of our year in our family. As 2015 rung in we were still working on our marriage and building up our relationship not only with one another but also with God. We had strayed so far from His path, that we had a huge wreck in the intersection! We continued to go to counseling and meet with our pastor on a regular basis because we knew we needed it.

As Spring came around, the kids are just growing and growing. Daddy had went out of town for a week in March so that was when I decided to do a photoshoot of the kids in their Easter outfits. We had a blast creating these pictures to show daddy when he came home. The pictures we were taking were actually just for fun (as you can tell with my backdrop being wrinkled and what not, but I had just got the backdrop and really wanted to use it)

Then can you believe that Summer is here?? Yep, Summer just flew on in and Weston is coming close to turning a year old! A year? Say what?! We celebrated his birthday with a potluck at my grandma's (Nanny's) house with all our family. It was great having our friends and family there to share in this amazing milestone of Weston's. We had a lot of fun during the Summer months as we gardened, played outdoors, and spent time together.

Here comes the Fall which is my favorite time of year (weather wise). We didn't do much except for October 7th, I was advised that I was terminated from my job at KDHE Laboratories. Although it was a shock in a way, it was also a blessing because there was a lot of things happening and about to happen that I truly did not want to be a part of. As I walked out to my car that early afternoon, I got in my car and just told God that I was laying it all at His feet and that He was in charge. I laid my full trust in Him; He is the only one that can provide what is needed.

I was unemployed for a month and my sister in law told me about a job fair that was going on at Westaff, so I got up that morning, gathered my things and was hired for a Registration Specialist at Maximus - KanCare. I was pretty stoked and couldn't believe it. I figured I would be waiting for a while to hear anything, but they proceeded to put me through the paperwork, testing, and all that other fun stuff.

So I have been working for Maximus for a month almost and absolutely love it. The atmosphere thus far has been superb compared to any other place I have worked at.

December, well the last month of the year and we have had a busy one for sure. My birthday came and went. It wasn't a big deal, just another day. My mom did make me a great dinner that weekend and we went over and ate with her and my immediate family. I requested BBQ Chicken, potato salad, and mac and cheese. She made it wonderful. Then my cake was the Texas Sheet Cake or as my family calls it, Chocolate-Cinnamon Cake. Christmas has just completed and decorations are down. From Christmas Eve until Sunday the 27th, we had a Christmas or two each day. I was so ready to just stay home but it was back to work on Monday. Although Monday was a delayed start until 10am because of the sleet and snow we were getting but I still made it to work at 8am.

Now it is New Year's Eve and not much planned here with our family. We will more than likely all be in bed before the New Year comes, which is fine with me because I don't want crabby kids the next day.

Happy New Year (almost), and tell me what you have planned.