Simplifying My Life

This time last year, I was planning for every day that I would be on maternity leave. My due date was August 25, so I would only be with my kids for two weeks before I would be gone. I worked tirelessly, uploading lessons to  tes.com , so all the substitute would have to do was hit "play" on the slideshows. I got copies made, planned on speaking with my substitute weekly (which I did), and thought I would also connect with the students somehow if I read their journals and wrote them back, along with their personal narrative essays. I was going to take only two months off so that it would be like I was never absent. I ended up not going back . Prior to all of this, I asked other teachers what they did while on leave. Almost all said that they provided lesson plans and graded EVERYTHING while on leave. I also heard a horrifying story of a teacher mom who was getting phone calls while her baby was in NICU because the substitute couldn't find a binder with copies that...

So I am doing a lot better with getting rid of stuff, but I am staring at my daughter's room, seeing tons of stuffed animals lying around. My 13 year old could not part with them herself, so she gave the ones she didn't want to keep, but didn't want to donate, to her 11 month old sister. Now these little guys are occupying the baby's room, and these are animals she has no attachment to. Am I the only one who has such a hard time giving stuffed animals away? I feel like they are real beings who have feelings. There's this Dumbo my sister gave to my oldest. I haven't talked with my sister in two years. My oldest doesn't want this little guy. You think that would be enough to get rid of it easily. But I look at this guy and think,"I love Dumbo! He's so cute!" I NEED to get stronger and get rid of all of these little guys who are taking over the baby's room, but I need to overcome the obstacle I'm placing in front of myself! I ...

This is a personification example I can use with my students when I return to work in August.  But really, this week sucked. *I got phished by someone pretending to be my bank. *I was bitten over thirty times by a mysterious bug. I thought I had hives because there were so many bites. I went to the urgent care because I inched so much I felt like my body was on fire. The nurse practitioner confirmed that they were bug bites. *Then with my lovely coordination, I spilled my coffee all over my phone. Thankfully, she survived though there is some permanent screen damage in the right hand corner. I'm still paying on this bad boy, so she needs to be used for one more year! When I get a new phone, I'm going to follow Dave Ramsey's advice and pay for it in full upfront instead of adding it to my monthly phone bill. Back to the best week ever-*the highlight was when our Rottweiler shit in his crate, then spread that lovely shit all over the floor when I took him outside...

I've only shared a bank account with my husband for about two months now, so I'm still getting used to his bank. In the past, I've heard him said that sometimes his bank will stop his card from working if they suspect that his account has been misused. He then has to verify that it was him who made the purchase, then they release the hold. This has happened at least five times since we've been together, so when I received an "alert" that I needed to verify my card because of a suspicious purchase, I thought nothing of it. It arrived on my phone through text and had a link. The site had our bank's logo, totally seemed legit. I gave all of my information, yes including my social, and received a message that I was cleared to use my card again. I text my husband that his bank was annoying and told him what happened. He suggested I called the bank to make sure it was them. I thought, it HAS to be them, that site was official. Well, IT WAS NOT FROM THEM. My ...

A year ago, I was pregnant and expecting an August baby. As my coworkers put it, the timing was "terrible." I'm a high school teacher and every other teacher I know would comment on what a terrible due date I had. They would first congratulate me when they saw my big belly, then they would make a face when I told them my due date. One person even told me I should've planned my pregnancy better. I get it, because I too thought that August was a terrible due date for a momma teacher. I remember praying to God to please let me have a summer baby so I could go back to work right away. My district does offer a year off of unpaid maternity, but I thought leave work for that long? I could never! My pregnancy was difficult to begin with. I experienced extreme anxiety and it was terrifying. The year prior, my husband lost two partners and I witnessed a family member have a mental breakdown. I was also finishing up my last semester of graduate school. I stopped taking my re...

So I think I am finally happy with the amount of makeup I own. I did an initial declutter a few months ago, but didn't write about it until recently . Though I threw so much out, I still felt unsatisfied because I knew that I did not utilize all of the makeup I kept. I went through another decluttering session, and this time I was able to let go of the products I couldn't see myself tossing out last time. I think this is because there was a part of me that wanted to hold on to the person I could be, but not fully accepting that is not who I am. So last year (dear God I hope it was last year and not two years ago haha), I received these free lip pencils from Sephora. If you register as a Beauty Insider, you get free gifts for your birthday. This lip pencil duo came in red and a nude color. I'm sure they have more que fancy names, but I'm just going to call it as I see it.  I am not very full of myself, but I have to admit that I look better in nude lip colors...

I've been really interested in simplifying everything we use, including what we use in our surroundings. I've cut down on most things in the laundry room. I purchased some Norwex dryer balls two years ago and stopped using fabric softener. I tried using All Free & Clear, but found it would leave an odd smell to my clothes after. I started using Seventh Generation Dishwasher detergent; I purchased it from Sprouts and it came in a  box and is in loose powder form. It has lasted us quite a long time vs. the Sprouts pods we were using! We are very much all about saving money while using better products for our family, so I thought that if the dishwasher detergent was great deal, then I'd like to try the laundry detergent. I looked up the company and they have a program called Generation Good  that will let you try free samples if you give a review of their product after. So I reached out because I wanted to try them. I'm not getting paid or anything like that, I j...