Sweet Sweet Sunday

 Ahh, Sweet Sweet Sunday, how I love thee! Sundays look a lot different than they used to around here. With Corona still raging around us, church is meeting virtually and that frees up some of our time. With me back at work and Patrick working a full time gig these days, we've switched our previous Thursday morning breakfasts to Sundays. 
Today, we enjoyed pumpkin pancakes and scrambled eggs, plus hot tea and coffee of course, together with us 3, plus Pat, Cynterra, Mark, and Chris. We enjoyed our tasty breakfast and then played Dominion with the Alchemy expansion for the first time. The Alchemy expansion is fantastic and we all enjoyed it quite a bit. 
Later, all the people wandered off to do their own activities, and Dan went to help Ricky with some home improvement projects. David and Makenzie popped through to say hi and work on his new-to-him police motorcycle, and then they also headed out for an afternoon of adventures. I cleaned this and that, did some laundry and dishes, read for a while, and enjoyed some uninterrupted time to listen to Pandora. (I also got tested for Corona today, but that wasn't the best part of my day, LOL)
At 5, people started to trickle back in while I was preparing pizza ingredients and dough. We discussed lots of movie choices, and decided on watching Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure to prepare for watching Bill and Ted Face the Music, that I got for Christmas. By 7, we were all eating our own pizzas, cozy in the darkened living room, while laughing at Bill and Ted's. And now, Derek is lounging in his room, Dan is watching tv, and I'm using a few free minutes to blog about our day. 
Friends, life is good, especially if you're willing to look around a little. One good thing about the Corona Quarantine is having less distractions and more time to spend with your family and close friends. 

God is good. All the time. Yes and Amen

Still Working on Redeeming the Quarantine: January 2nd, 2021

 It seems we’re all going to have a little extra free time in the next few days. What are you doing with it? As with most things, this girl needs a plan. Mostly so that I don’t just mindlessly binge watch Netflix while I snack myself straight into diabetes. Also, a plan helps me feel more like I’m in control of something, and if you know any of the Smith girls, you know we all enjoy the illusion of control. LOL! So here’s a few things I put on my to do list to give some order to my days and so that when this nonsense is over and someone asks me what I did while I was at home for a week, I’ll have something more interesting to say then, “I dunno...nothing.”

Quarantine Goals:

•Put together 7 Wonders Box Organizer

•Learn to play both expansions for 7 Wonders

•Play a Game together every day

•Read a book for every 2 days that we are home .... *This did not end well for me, since the quarantine has gone on for 40 weeks and I can't devote that much time to reading every day. Dang it.

•Not contribute to mass panic, despair, or dismay but to bring cheer and reassurance to all those I “see” online.

•Stay hydrated, get some sun, eat my veggies and supplements each day, and stay on my regular sleeping schedule.

•Post on IG and FB each day, and perhaps take up blogging again.

•Sing, Praise, Worship, and read my Bible every day.

•Try a new recipe: I tried 3 new recipes this week and they were all better than I thought. Woot! (Link to recipes is in the comments)

•Do a small workout each day: WiiFit, take a walk, have a dance party, lift weights, do some yard work, whatever.

•Catch up on the latest quarterly issue of Simplify Magazine.

•Re-Pot my plants that have grown over the winter.

•Deep clean or declutter one room each day.

•Homeschool Lite with DT: Khan and Reading each day plus memorization practice.

•Do 1 load of laundry, 1 load of dishes, and swish and swipe 1 bathroom each day.

•Stay in contact with my people and make adjustments as necessary to meet their needs.

•Hang out with Hercules when he is around.

•Work at the office as needed.

Do you have any quarantine goals? Share them here

#CoronaVirusPandemic2020

#QuarantineGoals

#INeedAList

#WhatsOnYourList

#IRefuseToLiveInFear #RedeemingTheQuarantine

...and while I accomplished a good portion of this most days, I haven't succeeded as wildly as I'd hoped. But I'm reposting it to remind myself that

A. Life won't always be this way,

B. I can make choices about how I live even in this nonsensical time in history, and

C. that I need to think about others more often.

No Spend January? Is that even possible?

Welcome to our No Spend January Challenge! Wait, Whaaaat? We're trying to spend ZERO dollars this month? 

Well, sorta. *shrug*

We are trying to spend zero FRIVILOUS dollars this month. What does that look like, you ask? 
It means, no eating out unless we have a gift card. (This one hurts me. Kristy LOVES to eat out.) No getting a manicure, or a massage, or new clothes, or shoes, or video games, or even any new board games. It means no new books, or DVDs, or planner stickers. It means staying home and enjoying the things we already have, or going outside and enjoying nature. It means hosting a potluck dinner with friends (if the lock down ever ends). It means spending time riding Dan's cycle together. It means spending time with the people we are locked down with at home. It also means, in theory, that at the end of January, we will have a decent chunk of change to tuck away for a rainy day, to build our emergency fund, or plan a fun trip for someone's upcoming birthday. 

To answer the inevitable questions: 
Yes, I will pay my bills.
Yes, I will purchase my son a gift for his January birthday. 
Yes, I will put gas in my car. 
Yes, I will tithe to my church. 
Yes, if my _______ breaks, I will replace it IF it is a need, not a want or a luxury item I can easily live without. 

This is not about depriving ourselves of anything, but more of being content with what we already have. For instance, The Man Crew House owns somewhere between 75-90 games right now. ( Y'all, I KNOW, okay? It's an addiction. Corona made me do it.) My point being, we could play a different game EVERY DAY for nearly 3 months without playing the same game twice. Plus darts, a pool table, and an air hockey table. We own 400+ DVDs, and we have a Netflix subscription, so we can watch movies 24 hours a day for a month and not put a dent in the amount of things there are to watch. We have pets out the wazoo that we can brush and bathe and pet and play with all day long. We have food to make and bake and eat and chat about. We own hundreds of books, ahem, Kristy owns thousands of books, and could happily read for months without stopping and not be finished. Dan and Derek could play Minecraft for 24 hours a day for weeks without ever leaving the living room. We have house improvement projects underway that can be finished. We have a backyard full of vehicles that need repairs. We have homeschool to work on, organization and decluttering projects to complete, and dozens of outdoor areas within an hour of our house to go and explore. 
None of that is intended to sound as bragging about what we own, but to simply point out that we've all been sold a lie that we constantly need more, and better, and more, and new, and more, More, MORE. We all have enough already. We just need to look around and notice that we have plenty. And that our discontentment doesn't come from an external source, but an internal one. Ouch, stomped on my own foot right there.

All of that to say, we are staying home this month, eating good food from our Pantry Challenge, playing lots of board games, and remembering to be content with what (and who) we already have in our lives. And that doesn't cost a tiny shiny penny. 

If you're playing along, I'd love to encourage you! Drop me a line in the comments so I can rejoice over your No Spend January Challenge victories. 

I'll post an update each week during January to keep you all in the loop of how it is going here. 

Starting 2021 Well: Pantry Challenge

  I am looking forward to doing lots of new things this year, but one thing I like to do every year in January is a Pantry Challenge. Basically a Pantry Challenge is a way to start the year off well by purchasing less groceries and eating up some of the excess of the holiday season. My pantry shelves, freezers, and fridges are all burgeoning with food stuffs. It is time to clear them out. The money saved can be used to pay off some debt, put in an emergency fund, saved for a rainy day, or even for planning a birthday gift or anniversary trip. 

The Plan for The Man Crew House:

~Spend less than $100 on dairy and produce during January. I won't be purchasing anything besides these items, but make a plan that works for you. 
~Commit to cook and eat at home, because we are also doing a No Spend January (More on that later)
~Dig to the back of the freezer, fridge, and pantry shelves to use up what we already have on hand. There is plenty...I promise. 
~Do what a blogger friend of mine calls "Gather Your Fragments" which is a simply a way of saying to use up what's already open, already thawed, already in the 'limper drawer'  before it gets stale or passes the point of usefulness. 
~Make a meal plan: I find that I am much more successful if I take the time to make a meal plan, and possibly even take inventory so I know exactly what to cook each day and I'm not scrambling at 5pm to figure out what's for dinner. I usually spend an hour or so on Sundays looking at what's on hand, making a plan for dinners, and doing a little food prep. 
~Breakfasts and lunches are self-serve around here, now that we don't have littles anymore. I usually make one batch of muffins or fruit/nut breads each week and other than that, everyone just makes their own. Lunches are usually leftovers or something really simple like grilled cheese, soup, or PB on a tortilla. 

A few items of note:

*This is NOT about going hungry, going a month without eating a fresh veggie, or eating food that has spoiled. The idea is simply to use up what we already have on hand, because in this land of plenty, the average food waste per household in this country is shocking and frankly, shameful.
*It IS about being creative, eating at home, having fun in the kitchen, saving some money, and using what we have before we mindlessly go purchase more. 

*This is a NO GUILT challenge. If what works for my house doesn't work for yours, that is OKAY. If you don't have much built up in your pantry, or your lifestyle doesn't allow you time to bake your own bread, or you have serious food allergies that cause you to eat expensive exotic ingredients, that is OKAY. If you want to try the Challenge for a week instead of a month, that is OKAY. Just do what works for you. I know what works for us because I've been doing a Pantry Challenge every year for a decade. But I started small, and learned something new each year along the way. You can, too. 

I'll post a follow up each week in January to keep myself accountable. I hope you'll join me in the comments so I can share in your victories and accomplishments. 

2021 Goals! I have BIG plans this year

I have many goals this year after a few years of actively doing less and I'm rearing to go. I'll add this list in the coming days and then offer a once a month update post.

Spiritual Goals:     

~Read the whole Bible this year. I'm using the YouVersion app to help me do this in a timely fashion.
~Pray from a list
~Attend Church and Community Group either in person or virtually, as Corona allows.

~Read and work through "The Road Back to You" an Enneagram book from a Christian perspective.

Health Goals:     

~Continue to shed inches through smaller portions, more movement, more veggies and more water. My year end goal to be down to single digit pants size and a M top. 
~Make taking my supplements a daily habit.
~Avoid late night snacking. 
~Be able to run up a flight of stairs at Acton without becoming winded.

~Take a long hike once a month. (A Mountain, Dripping Springs, Carlsbad Caverns, The Catwalk, etc.)

Personal Goals:   

~Read every single day, and I'm starting with books I already own. I can't purchase any more until I've read those. *Kindle books don't count as purchases if I get them free*

~Blog daily.

~Make 25 recipes out of my new cookbooks, Cast Iron Cooking and the Tasty Cookbook.

~Participate in No Pants April 2021 and 100 Happy Days 2021
~Buy a handgun and take a safety course.
~New Ink: The MeYeR Man Crew and The Grand Crew- paid for by PattyCakes

~Get passports for the family
~Conquer FSA syndrome by clearing a Flat Surface Area every month, and maintain all other FSAs from previous months

Marriage and Family Goals:    

~Long weekend trip to Grand Canyon- if Corona Allows

~Celebrate 25 year anniversary in August

~Continue with weekly Pizza and Movie Nights

~Visit IL at least once this year

~Dan and I Question Of The Day book daily

~Date Night once a month
~Game Nights weekly

Financial Goals:     

~Refill our emergency fund

~Spend our Tax Refund wisely on home improvements, adding to our savings, and extra principal on our mortgage

~Save money weekly according to my printout in my planner

~Do a No-Spend January

~Pantry Challenge in January
~Stock Pantry with 6 months of staples

I'll add to this as I think of more things that need my attention this year, but this is a pretty good start. 
How about you? What are you working on this year?

Bye Bye 2020, and Hello 2021!

2020 has been a year for the books. I know I haven't been around much the past few years, and I hope to remedy that in 2021. Even if I only drag over some posts from FB to cover the past 2 years, that might suffice. 

At any rate, I'll do a post soon about all my 2021 goals and plans, but I wanted to say that one of the big goals is to blog every day in 2021. 

Even if no one but me reads it.

Even on days when I feel like I have nothing new to share. 

Even when I think my life is boring or mundane or possibly lame. Especially those days. 

I feel like I've let my creative side grow dormant in recent years, and that stops now. I need a creative outlet. 

So, here I am, raising a glass to 2020 and bidding it a FOND farewell, and welcoming 2021 with open arms. 

Happy New Year! 

My JEEEEEEEP!!

 

You GUYS! My mom found a picture of me, my cousin Danny, and my beloved Jeep today!
*SQUEAL*
This brings back so many happy memories of my early-early adulthood.

#81JeepScramblerPickup
#Cousins
#GreatMemories
#YoungLadyJeepAdventures

PS. I am 19 years old in this picture. Even Hercules thought I was 12. LOL!

PSS. Please to note it was summer of 1993, and I thought I was VERY cool with my tucked and puffed shirt, party pony hair complete with matching scrunchie, plus tucked and rolled jeans, and white Keds.