laundry detergent

...continuing on with publishing my unpublished...
this post was back when the boy first left for a-school
i was doing everything i could to keep busy by diy projects
then school hit and i didn't get to post.


here it goes:


another excuse to leave the studies for a bit, 

yet still feel productive.

diy laundry detergent 

i've been wanting to do this project for a while now

and have taken bits and pieces from all my internet recipes.

mule team borax

arm and hammer super washing soda

zote soap from home depot

{oops kind of put the lemon so you can't see the logo...sorry!}

and a lemon :)

mix together:

1 1/2 cup of borax

1 1/2 cup of arm and hammer

grate an entire bar of the zote soap

zest a lemon

then add just 1 tablespoon to each load

all the ingredients cost less than $10

and they make multiple batches

you don't get the same smell as regular laundry detergent

so just add a fabric softener when switch to the dryer :)

what's fun about finishing up this post now is that
i've been using it for about three months and i LOVE it
the only purchase i've had to additional buy is more zote soap
for the second batch i made just the other day....uuhhhhhmazing :)

o' christmas tree

so i was going through my blog and realized a had several drafts,
posts i began but because of school craziness wasn't able to wrap up and publish
this week...since school'ness has been winding down...
my goal is to finish up and post these left out posts :)


this one was from last week...


it was a perfect christmas tree pickin' kind of night

i got off work early, put on my fluffy scarf and my pink ear warmers

{pretty much anything to make it feel more wintery'ish}

we made it to the lot and found our perfect little douglas fir
then crammed it into the back of my sedan
mmm...still smells like christmas in a car.

then we hit up o' so faithful walmart

i really wanted to string popcorn and cranberries this year

since all our popcorn at home was the ultra 'movie like' buttered packages

we were on the search for white popcorn and finally settled on 

weight watchers popcorn because it seemed to be the least yellow on the picture :)

we got home, set up the string and started popping the popcorn

rule of thumb is your suppose to use stale popcorn for stringing

but i was a little impatient and in the christmas mood so began to string away

{quite manageable...not too many broke}

the boy wasn't too keen on threading as i was...go figure

but he added to the christmas spirit by busting out the guitar and play some taylor swift.

RECAP 2009

our first year of marriage we had zero to nothing in our bank account

but the boy found taylor swift's christmas for like five dollars on itunes

so he decided to splurge and he bought it 

then surprised me when i got out of class that night

so it's kind of been our tradition now to listen to those six songs 

over and over again and sing along.

so the boy is playing away and i'm singing in my best t-swift voice

stringing my weight watcher popcorn and discounted cranberries

it was a sweet, corny, festive time.

at the end the boy insisted on using his new knot tying skills he acquired at a-school

to end my popcorn strands...mission accomplished.

our boot camp graduation ornament souvenir :)

i bought one when i went to visit him in virginia for a-school

...but i've kind of miss placed it...

...PS...
stringing popcorn takes FOREVER.

my world in Your hands

there has been so much uncertainty in our lives lately

trying to make decisions based on 
what we want, our future and what is expected of us

feelings of unfairness, frustration and no control

for a girl who loves planning, her to do lists and being prepared

uncertainty and the unknown is really difficult.

but while praying this song came on

You hold my every moment

You calm my raging seas

You walk with me through fire

and heal all my disease

i trust in You

i trust in You

i believe You're my Healer

i believe You are all i need

i believe You're my Portion

i believe You're more than enough for me

Jesus You're all i need

Nothing is impossible for You

Nothing is impossible for You

Nothing is impossible for You

You hold my world in Your hands

healer by hillsong

You hold my world in Your hands

i'm not sure if it can get any more powerful than that.

then God tugged on my heart and i was reminded of the verse

"...when i was woven together in the depths of the earth,

Your eyes saw my unformed body.

all my days were ordained for me were written in Your book

before one of them came to be."

psalm 139:15

this lead me to another favorite passage

"look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in the barns,

and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.

are you not much more valuable than they?

can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

...but seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, 

and all these things will be given to you as well.

therefore do not worry about tomorrow, 

for tomorrow will worry about itself."

matthew 6:26, 33-34

God knows what will take place every day of my life

i may not know, there will be uncertainty

but God knows, and there is such a comfort in that.

it's not my job to be worrying about these things

but to live righteously through him

when that happens, God's plan will unfold.

absent much..

holy cow it has been a whirlwind couple of weeks

my biggest and best excuse is 

MY BOY IS HOME!!!!

so if there is any homework putting off to do...it's been spent with him :)

otherwise the usual school, work, student teaching stuff.

however we did somehow manage to sneak home for a bit for the holidays

and when i say bit...it's more of a bit of a bit

we drove a total of eleven hours to be in our home town for less than twenty-four 

it was a crazy, fast paced but much needed adventure.

the in-laws...aren't we a cute bunch?

here's our other 'christmas card worthy' picture

my parents were being beach bums in mexico

so we spent our quick thanksgiving with the boy's side of the family.

of course a trip home wouldn't be 'a trip home' without seeing all my favorite kids

henry and his so serious face :)

couldn't catch a picture of ty without it being blurry..haha what's new!

my sweet sweet god daughter.

thanksgiving morning the boy, his best friend and i ventured out to the brand new swanky safeway in town

picked up some doughnuts and starbucks for our good friends and surprised them with a 

'thanksgiving miracle' if you will.

first doughnut experience for peyton...she was a happy girl.

...alright...

well i did take the morning off so i could bust out some assignments

...weird that i somehow found myself doing the blog thing... :)

i can't wait to catch another break and catch up on my blog reading

and add some christmass'ness to the home

{currently there is candy corn, snowmen and framed leaves on my shelves}

poor apartment is confused. 

happy belated thanksgiving.

reuniting

things i love thursday

being reunited with your love

today was the homecoming for the husband of my favorite friend

the next best thing to being reunited with your own boy

 is seeing someone else being reunited with theirs

ESPECIALLY these two. 

{RECAP}

two years ago i walked into sign language and nicole was wearing a jeremy camp shirt

i always thought she was the 'cool' girl in class and that day i made my move

i asked, 'do you love jesus?'

she replied, 'yes'

that class we were let out early, so we went for a bite to eat and kill time till our next class

we ended up talking through nicole's lecture...oops!

just so happened we both loved jesus as well as 

her boyfriend {at the time} was looking into national guard reserves 

and my husband was investigating coast guard

....hmmm kawinkydink...i think not...JESUS.

since the moment our friendship blossomed 

she married that boy and together we got through

two sets of boot camp, almost two sets of a-school {one more day for me}

and for my dear friend survived one very very long deployment

which i believe gets a round of applause..so go ahead and clap away :)

happy reuniting mr. and mrs.

i am so proud and thankful for all you have done. 

things i love thursday

for the second ever things i love thursday

skype

the boy and i probably get to skype between one to three times a week

{depending on our schedules}

some times he watches me do the dishes

other times we attempt to watch an episode of the office on hulu

and tonight he helped me with my crafting

{i'm attempting to do the picture on the wood thing}

i learned everything about a two by eight piece of wood a girl would ever need to know :)

i now know how to buy, cut, sand and talk to the home depot guy.

what would i do without that boy?

what would i do without my skype?? 

visiting virginia

{so the trip was about four weeks ago...better late than never}

leaving

begins thursday when i completed my exam on direct instruction. seconds after handing in my essay and shutting the classroom door, i did the biggest happy dance known to man in the hallway and preceded to skip to my parking spot with the most goofiest smile on my face :) i flew from sunset to sunrise and made it to virginia mid morning.

 day one with my boy

the boy was still in class when i checked into the hotel so i attempted to get a nap in...but as you can guess my excitement got the best of me and the nap barely happened. then finally three o'clock came. that same goofy smile took me all the way to base where i picked up my boy. it was a little too perfect, i waited for him to by the rental car while blake shelton's honey bee played on the radio...cheesy i know, but i was eaten it up! then i saw him...best feeling ever. we spent the rest of the day just hanging out...so amazing to just hang out with no time line just us. my treat {besides me being there} was no pictures the first day...he was pretty happy :) on our way to the hotel we stopped by hardee's...just to make sure it tasted like our carl's jr. later on we drove to williamsburg on search for the perfect dinner. after about an hour we settled upon new york deli and pizza {recommended by his advisor} and it was DELICIOUS. it was a perfect pizza date. we demolished our food, sipped on beer and eavesdropped on people's conversations, he teased me and i missed it. during this time the biggest spider i've every seen in real life came creeping into the deli...GROSS to say the least, i mean it was thumb to index finger circle big. by the time i was able to get the words..ummmm spider spider huge out of my mouth the boy had already accidentally smashed it with his sandal. phew crisis averted.

day two with my best friend

time for busch gardens with the beautiful military discount...aka FREE. we spent our day riding roller coasters, eating overpriced food and lots and lots of laughing. we purchased a locker for my purse and camera so i could ride the coasters carefree. however we didn't get back to the locker until dusk. we quickly grabbed the camera, found someone to take our picture and posed a few times....but then when i went to check the pictures i realized that none of them saved because i forgot the memory card :( i tried so hard to not be super bummed, but i was so BUMMED. then after one of our rides i saw a photo booth...gave the boy  my best please eyes and he agreed to fork out the five dollars and sit in a little booth...something that is not typically his cup of tea...he's so good to me! we waited for a bunch of pre-teens to take their top model pursed lips pictures. then they were done, took a good look at us and told the boy 'you guys look sooooo cute together' ... are you imagining the valley girl accent?? any who we took  the compliment :) and we stepped into that germ infested photo booth and took our...just 'us' pictures. ha then i was being miss know it all and thought i could handle the selection of boarders and accidentally selected our bff background...sorry love you were right 'enter' is different than 'back' oops. after we rode the coasters til fifteen after close we made our way back to the car and the drive back. but before we crashed at the hotel we picked up some taco bell...because what would a late night be without taco bell??

day three with hubby

lazy perfect morning...then went to virginia beach for the day. first virginia aquaruim...my new favorite place! ohmygoodness those turtles, hearing kids yell 'look look it's dora', the scary sharks about to pound through the glass and eat me, those stinkin' otters and seriously cuttlefish rock my world! i stared at them for ever waiting for my fav little guy to change colors...and he did :) AND the boy's new mission was to look up cool cuttlefish youtube videos for me all day...have i mentioned he's the best? yup, the cuttlefish is my new favorite animal/mammal/fish.

after we got our marine animal fix...we headed over to the beach and found a yummy out door, by the beach, happy hour, did i mention super yummy food restaurant?? we hung out, goofed off, filled up on seafood appetizers and beer. then grabbed our sweatshirts from the car and took walk on the beautiful east coast beach. 

  

i love the beach...both of us grew up living only miles away from it and its so nice to see no matter the coast :) we then drove back to newport news, picking up some cold stone on the way. we had a coupon for buy one get one, so the boy thought it would be a great idea for both of us to get the 'i gotta have it' size...getting the most out of our money {duh}, insisting that he would finish mine...which i did all by myself mind you! we took our dripping ice cream back to the hotel, got tummy aches and watched all the episodes we were behind on for the office. pretty perfect day huh?

day four with him

well it was monday...so we woke up early, ate our complementary breakfast and i dropped him off at school. i went back to bed for a few hours and caught up on my missed sleep from the flight over. then i got up and ventured over to yorktown for the day. so so beautiful! i love the historical'ness...i love the water...i love the bricks and ships and i love the old people holding hands...oh man just soaked it all up with my coffee in hand. it was just peaceful...i sat on a bench on the waterside for about an hour just being still. watching all the old couples holding hands, thinking how amazing it's going to be when we are old, still goofy in love and holding hands...that's going to be pretty stinkin' cool :) i finished my coffee and found myself at 'stars and stripes' the souvenir and very VERY conservative shop. ha...for example one of the buttons said 'republican hottie'. i decided to buy an ornament to represent the trip, we did the same thing for when he graduated boot camp. then when purchasing it i chatted up the owner and compared cat stories with him for about twenty minutes. well three o'clock came around again and it was time to go pick up the boy from school :) :) we drove over to fort eustis because i had never been on an army base before and had my absolute love...salted caramel hot chocolate with extra 

goodness at the base's starbucks. YUM. we drank the yummy'ness and drove around base. then we got some shopping done for him and went out dinner. the boy and i headed back to the hotel and packed up his stuff...spent a few more hours together..but then it was elevenish...time to take him back. he had class in the morning and i had a six am flight to catch. it was hard saying goodbye...as usual. but different hard this time around, usually he's the one leaving me,and for the first time i left him. but it was all worth it. we had so much fun and it was just the break i needed from school and life. because as we all know, life is harder and just not as fun when your boys gone. we are actually now at a ten day count down til he graduates and comes home...almost there :) then we will be done with him leaving...for a while at least. he will have a few weeks year of training, then deployment is looking about two years out. but right now i'm focused ten days...ten days and he's home:)

my morning off

first morning off in forever and i made a 

no homework rule

for the morning at least.

 so i made a birthday package for my sister

which meant i finally got to make my forever 'pinned'

cake pops

i reused my plastic mayo jar

{soaked it super well}

filled it will curling ribbon, pixie sticks,cake pops 

and a birthday note of course

then mailed it off.

hurray for harvest

so i debating on bringing out the christmas decor

just because it took me this long to finally make my home autumnish

but i thought, better late than never

with these few hours i'll at least bring out a few fall things

before i go gun-hoe on christmas.

yes i know halloween is over

but i've been wanting to do this forever

and actually bought the supplies about two months ago

dollar tree tea light holders turned upside down,

filled with candy corn and tea lights placed on top.    

soo not much, but accompanied with my candied caramel pecan candle

makes me happy girl :)

bytheway...thank goodness for pinterest!

all the ideas i couldn't get to this year...are stored for the next

i love that!

things i love: thursday

phew i made it.

this past week has flown by yet felt like eternity at the same time

how does that even happen??

well here we go, my first...

things i love: thursday

i love candles

i love the smell, the flicker, the glow

oh i love them.

so i found this candle at walmart last month for $4.96

i smelled it and thought 'eh i'll give it a try'

usually i stay away from cheaper candles

but i figured it was martha so i would give her a shot :)

and ooohhh man do i LOVE it!

the second i get home, i light it.

i walk to get the mail and can smell it from my window.

candied caramel pecan...yum.

so a couple days ago i ran by good ole' walmart and picked up more

two candles for under ten dollars...i think YES.

a break to blog

my breaks lately have been defined as

a chance to do the dishes, fold laundry or clean up the house

but i call them my breaks because i treat myself to hulu while i'm completing these chores :)

today has been a little caddywhompus

i had a make up session scheduled and canceled

then tried fitting in a student to run assessments but that didn't happen

then work meetings being postponed and then last minute texts of 'we're back on'

currently i'm at starbucks after my meeting, killing time and putting off some overdue reading..

since everything else has been crazy

i decided to push my to do list aside and visit some of my favorite blogs

and do a quick recap on my life.

visiting virginia

i believe i mentioned this but just in case...it was pure perfection :)

i started my post on it but have only gotten to day two

...it will be up soon...

romans chapter twelve

this chapter has been on my heart so much lately

i feel as if i can read it over and over and still pull something new from it

not conforming to the patterns of this world

staying humble and recognizing God's work through me

love as an action

with the craziness of life, getting all my assignments and work days complete

i sometimes forget that my day should be full of serving and loving others

i want to be different from the world, i want God to shine through me in everything i do

i LOVE this chapter.

birthdays

luckily i have several november birthdays coming up

an excuse to bake and craft, which i've been deprived up lately

i have loved these cake pops every since i saw them at starbucks...

of course i found the recipe on pinterest and will be attempting them soon.

husband winning

so i have received yet another present surprise from the boy last night

{that's three for him and only two for me}

my phone is my lifeline to work, school and most importantly 

my boy

but because i'm on it constantly, it's always dying :(

so he bought me a mobile power pack external battery thing

...not going to lie, i'm not tech savvy at all...

luckily the boy is, he said that i can recharge my phone up to four times 

with this dodad...just plug it in in my purse and i'm set...sweet!

and...it came with a velvet pouch... i scored.

you can see miss lynnee loves it too :)

yup, that boy is the best.

things i love: thursdays

so i'm thinking about starting a weekly post about the little things in life

you know..the things that just make you smile?

i thought it would:

a) keep me accountable for at least one blog a week

b) keep me positive about those little things i love

plus if i ever fall behind 

since 'things' starts with a 't'

it could always be 'things i love: tuesday'

yup...i thought that one out.

that sums it up

it was fun catching up

i'm off to a case to train a new tutor :)

happy hump day!

back to reality.

i'm back.

back from my break from life

where i spent three and a half amazing days with my boy

escaping the reality of homework, work and school

being with my best friend

it was perfection.

but the second i missed my connecting flight home

i realized i was back to reality.

playing catch up at work and continuing on with the craziness of school.

my trip was refreshing

seeing that boy was so encouraging.

plus he has finally convinced me to drop a case at work

which means about an extra seven hours to my week :)

devote a little more 'me' time to my schedule.

so near future blogging will include

my trip

new crafties

transition from summer to fall decor

{yes my house is still full of patriotic summerness}

those seven hours will go towards all my pinterest loves

until next time after my case gets covered :)

happy friday

airport

waiting for my flight

{deep breath...}

enjoying my free wifi 

catching up on my season five army wives

{it's on netflix instant view now!}

sipping on my beautiful glass of merlot

{the bar tender took sympathy on me and poured a little more than 9 oz}

i made it

{and may i say that i kicked grad school's butt!}

i got all my assignments completed, big projects finished

and i'm a week ahead on everything.

so i can spend a perfect three and a half days

with my boy.

{yup it was allllll worth it}

next post...expect lots of handsome pictures of that boy :)

holy toledo sunday again

this week has been class, student teaching, studying, work, and NONSTOP homework

but it's all been focused on the boy

why?

because i leave in four days  to see him!

holy toledo it's going to be worth it.

i am caught up and almost ahead to where i need to be

so my days with my hubby can be focused on us and only US.

it is sunday again.

last sunday i took the morning off, focusing on God and enjoying the little things.

it most definitely paid off, because i could have not accomplished my week with out Him.

this sunday is a little different.

decided to catch up on my neglected blogs instead of working out :)

it's probably going to be a makeup~less and sweats day

and just a LITTLE less homework and a little more trip planning

but

my perfect caramel salted hot chocolate with all the extra amazingness 

will still come when i hit up my study group later this evening.

so all is good and right in my world. 

enjoy your sunday. let God use you in amazing ways.

{once this post goes up i'm back to obeying my crazy to do list}

sunday

i woke up this morning with sun streaming in my window, birds chirping and lynnee attacking the mirror on our wardrobe :)  after last nights reflection, i felt it on my heart to take some time to enjoy the little things.

i laid in bed for a half an hour, cuddled with lynnee and talked to my God.

then went to the gym...seriously haven't ran in months and it felt so good!

afterwards i went ran over to the store and bought new toothpaste 

{i accidentally bought the gross flavor last week, tried to ignore it and deal, but just couldn't}

i saw a bouquet of lilies and got them for the house

aren't they pretty and perfect?

i slowly drank and enjoyed my coffee in a pretty cup while getting ready

usually my morning coffee is thrown in a traveling mug

and gulped down on my way teaching

i also took the extra minutes for eye shadow...oh la la

still had some time before church so i played with lynnee

who had been following me around all morning

church was amazing. worship was perfect.

i decided to take the back roads home, so much prettier and curvier than the highway

listened to the music my boy had sent me and drove by all of God's beautiful creation

i saw starbucks on the way home and knew it was time for my salted caramel hot chocolate

i had been waiting for the weather to cool down just a little more...

but today i was going to settle with 70 degrees and get it

oh was it perfection

i asked for a tall salted caramel hot chocolate with extra whip, extra caramel and extra salt

bless her heart she put it in a grande cup to insure my extra amazingness

i couldn't resist and took a sip before taking a picture

i saw this sign and thought it was pretty cute... :)

came home, lit a candle and it's homework time

still doing it now...just took a little break

it was so refreshing taking that little time off, away from the worries of homework

putting God first and taking sometime for myself

my homework has been whizzing by...seriously all my readings made sense, my responses and papers have been just flowing perfectly. i'm actually caught up on what's due this week already and working on getting ahead right now. life is so much easier when God comes first.

oh, plus the boy had an extra duty day and studying

but

we still got to have some skype time and watched our favorite show

parks and recreation together.

yup, today was pretty amazing and renewing. just what i needed.