Simple Living

It has been awhile since I updated you on our home life..or much of anything really. My blogging has been pretty sporadic for awhile now but I will get to that another day. Our journey towards simplicity has brought us so much peace and happiness. This last year and a half has taught us a lot about what is really important to us and what direction we want our lives to take. 

Now this is the story...

"...all about how my life got flipped, turned upside down."

Do you have the Fresh Prince theme song stuck in your head now? No? Hmm...

"And I'd like to take a minute just sit right there. I'll tell how I became the prince of a town called Bel-Air."

How about now? Yeah, you're welcome. :)

The last few months have been CRAZY around my house! I have been waiting to talk about it because there were some things that needed to be straightened out and people who had to be told in person and I didn't want to be one of "those bloggers" and allude to big news that I couldn't actually talk about yet. Anywho...Remember when I talked about how we were purging and simplifying? Well, what really kicked that into high gear was our upcoming move! 

Yep. We are moving. Again.

The answer to your question is: Yes. We have lost our minds. Lol!

Fresh Start

It has been a long, hard six months but we are finally starting to rebuild our life. I am beyond ready to put all of the ugliness behind us and I am excited to see what the future holds.

There will be more detailed posts about the house later on but for now these quick before and afters seem fitting. The ugly, nasty before has been torn down, rebuilt and now the after is clean, bright, and full of color. There are lots of blank walls just begging for something fun to be made especially for them. 

The List

Some of you have asked for sneak peeks of the new house so here it is in the form of a massive photographic to-do list. Brace yourselves. It's going to get ugly. 

Adoption Fundraiser

Say "Hello" to my sister-in-law, Jenny, her husband, Ryan, and their two kids, Ryker and Haylie.  :) They are in the process of adopting these other two adorable kiddos, Hannah and Reese:

You're So Gangsta, I'm So Thug

via Pinterest

Sorry, about using Train lyrics in the title. I just couldn't help myself. We finally got some answers about the shootings.  Of course, this is just word on the street and has not been confirmed by the police but... Apparently we have been caught in the middle of a turf war between two rival gangs. Naturally upon learning this I went on Pinterest and found some funny photos about gangsters.  :)

It Happened Again....

Yep. There was another shooting. It wasn't directed at our house this time but it was half a block away and my husband was outside when it happened and saw the entire thing. Seven bullets flying down the street. If the guy had turned around and decided to take out the witness standing there in a bright white shirt illuminated by the streetlight...things could have been even worse.

Once again if things had happened just a little differently I could have lost one of my guys.

Home Sweet Home?

I'm not conceited enough to think that anyone other than myself noticed but posts have been a bit sparse around here the last couple of weeks. That's because there have been some big changes going on in my life that I couldn't talk about yet. I hate when people talk about something big that *might* be happening but "I can't tell you yet"...so just shut up and let me know when you can talk about it, right? Anywho, things are official now so I can announce that:  we are moving back home!!!!

I kind of mentioned after the shooting that we had been wanting to move back for awhile and that bullet was the final straw but I honestly didn't think things would happen this soon. After talking about it a bunch we made the difficult decision to go to Shelby's bosses and request an early transfer back. They were already wanting us to move back but they expected it to be another year or two so this completely changed the plans that we all had. The company that he works for is awesome and they have been an incredibly supportive "family" since the very beginning. So we were reluctant to throw this at them and possibly make things more difficult for them.

However, we made it clear that we were willing to do whatever it takes to make this move beneficial to them too and we fully realize that the first year or two will be rough and it will mean more traveling. For us this will still be better than the stress of staying in a neighborhood where we don't feel safe and our closest family is 8 hours away. :( Once they realized that we were committed to making it work they were fully supportive and Shelby's boss even agreed to let us rent one of his houses!

So take a look at our new home sweet home:

Hug Your Loved Ones!

I cannot express how important it is to tell people how much you love them, hug them every day and spend as much quality time together as possible.  The people we care about are the most important things in this world.  In the end nothing else matters.  It doesn't matter if the dishes are done or if you were able to buy the newest coolest electronic, or whatever else it is that seems important in the moment.  All that really matters is having people in your life that you love and who love you back and making sure that they know how much you care.  We were reminded of this yesterday afternoon when a bullet passed through our front door:

I've Got You Under My Skin...

I don't know why but every time I think of surgery that song pops into my head.  Weird.  My surgery went well and I want to thank you all for your prayers and kind words.  You have no idea how much it means to me.  It turns out that I don't have Endometriosis which is great since that would be a long battle.  They found a couple of ovarian cysts that had to be removed though.  I'm sure that is way too much information for some of you but it always drives me crazy when bloggers give you just enough of the story to make you curious then are vague on the details leaving you wondering what actually happened.  So there ya go.

This has been a long, drawn out ordeal and I am really happy that they finally figured out what was wrong.  Now we are praying that this will take care of everything and that there isn't anything else wrong.  It would be really nice to be done with doctors for awhile.  

Hot Mess

Every time I watch an interior decorating show I am amazed by the outfits that people wear while they are painting. I mean, I know that they want to look nice for tv but who really wears a brand new outfit to paint the living room? TV personalities aren't the only people who do this, either. I have even seen bloggers who do it too! As if we don't already feel inadequate enough while looking at these picture-perfect homes; now they have to go and take pictures of themselves working on these projects while looking like a GAP ad.

I don't know about you but THIS is what I look like when I am painting.

How To: Remove a Ring From a Swollen Finger

Have you ever woken up with a swollen ring finger for whatever reason and then had a major tiny freak out when you couldn't get your ring off? Yep. Happened to me a few days ago.

Apparently I got a mosquito bite on my knuckle one night and when I woke up a couple of days later half of my hand was swollen including my ring finger. You can't see it very well in that photo but it was really bad! My engagement ring came off with a little soap and some tugging but my wedding ring refused to come off. I tried ice, soap, lotion, everything I could think of and it wouldn't budge.

The Cut

The garage sale is finally over! We ended up making $750!!! Okay so $500 of it was for our car but still! $250 isn't too bad and how often are you able to sell a car at a garage sale?! We put most of the items that didn't sell by the curb with a free sign and it was all gone within a couple of hours. There are still some bigger items that we had to put on craigslist. I love how effective craigslist is for making money off of unused items but it can definitely be a pain in the butt so I am hoping that everything sells quickly. Anyone in the twin cities need an upright freezer? We have two! :)

Anyway, since I rambled on and on about my long hair I thought that I would show you the pics of my new cut!

BEFORE:

Sweet Sixteen.....Wait...WHAT?!?!

Funny thing happened today....I was mistaken for a teenager...AGAIN!!! This has been happening a lot the last few months. The first was when I had to go to the Minute Clinic and the guy apparently didn't look at my form closely enough because he told me that if I was under 18 then my dad needed to come in with me (he was mistakenly referring to my husband). When I told him how old I was he said that he thought for sure that I was sixteen.

Christmas Day

Yep. I'm just now getting around to posting our Christmas pictures. Better late than never, right? :)

Santa came by and brought a few presents. The unwrapped ones are from him. Jer wanted the Toy Story scooter so much he asked for it in a letter and in person.