DONE

I fell down the blogging rabbit hole....and lost my way.
And when I say that I mean, I was trying to do all things, well...bloggy.
I wanted people to be interested enough in my blog to come back and read it. I thought this meant DIY projects, subjects about budgeting & parenting, & kids & meals.
I had a Stay at Home Mom pipe dream that maybe I would make a dollar or two through sponsors that were dying to have a spot to advertise on my blog because there were so many "hits" per day.
Um guess what? Didn't happen. And frankly, I never worked at it hard enough for it to possibly happen.
It was too much for me.
The fad wore off pretty quick trying to keep up with the "real" home bloggers.
I think they call it burn-out, but I will just call it me being lazy.

#1- The Projects.
Yes I do them. Occasionally. Certainly not enough to be considered a DIY guru in the blogosphere.
However, I am the DIY guru inside my own home.
Aren't we all? To some degree?
Most of us DIY our meals, our cleaning(not to be confused with cleaning products), our make-up, our kids hair(unless they are a Tween, you can just forgetaboutit), and basically everything else in our worlds.
And for that, we need to be taking some cred.
But what I am done with is trying to keep up with projects I see online. Better Homes & Gardens, this blog, or that blog.
I. just. don't. have. the. stamina.
There I said it.
I might paint a wall or a table. Or who knows I might get crafty and make a wreath for Easter.
But I need to start just being happy with what I have at the moment.
Not constantly trying to change it, because that is what blog reading does to me....and Parade of Homes. Ugh talk about a rabbit hole!


#2- The Budgeting
I have a serious obsession with budgeting. I love to do it.
Does it mean I follow my budgets 100% of the time? No.
I try. I always have a plan. But life certainly likes to laugh at our plans sometimes.
So for lack of a better term, I have loosened the purse strings a bit.
My goal as the main budget-er in the family, have a plan, save when we can, and don't spend it if we don't have it.
Sometimes I get off track. It still makes me nervous but I take a deep breath and take baby steps towards making it better, without disrupting my household too much.
So I am done with these articles I read about how to save a dime here and there. I realize I have to do what works in that moment for my family and not be uptight about whether I have followed the monthly plan to a tee.

#3- Kids, lunches, and meals, and keeping my house tidy....
Listen, I am not a parenting expert and I hope I have never portrayed that here.
I love my daughter the best way I know how.
I don't make her sandwiches for her lunch that look like Elsa from Frozen.
She doesn't get vegetables in her diet everyday, even though she has tried to convince me that most things she eats were once in contact with some sort of veg so that must count for something. Whatever man, I'll run with it for now.
As much as I would like to make our meals "clean" and 100% homemade, there are still more times than I would like, that we have processed foods included in them.
As far as my tidy house goes, the majority of the time it is picked up.
Are there things laying around?
Of course.
I mean I just cleaned out 5 junk drawers and a junk cabinet.
By the end of that endeavor I had "junk" that I didn't want back in the junk drawers!
It's also that junk that couldn't be thrown away.
I eventually made it work, but seriously, who has 5 junk drawers?
My guess, a lot of people.
But for may sanity, keeping a tidy house keeps me a little less insane.
I am more comfortable in my home when things are cleaned.
It's far from perfect but it's good enough, most of the time.
Plus it's part of my job :)

So what I am saying here is, I am done trying to have a blog like everyone else.
I just like to write, and share. Nothing fancy, so please don't expect it, because I am over the fancy stuff.
It's pretty to look at but not very reasonable to have around.
So maybe I should change my blog name to The Messy Point of View.

move

 

I was fed up but it took me 3 weeks to get there. So I decided to move.

At the end of January, after suffering for 3 weeks with chronic low back, hip, and leg pain…after several chiropractic adjustments, some x-rays, and lots of ibuprofen, and nothing appeared to be wrong,  I was advised to move. Move my body more, that is.

I was reluctant because I am kind of lazy by nature when it comes to formal exercise. I like to walk or hike outside. I DON’T like that gym, AT.ALL.

But Folks, it’s been one hell of a winter in Minnesota. So cold you would die, literally, if you were outside for more than 5 minutes at a time. And it is not letting up anytime soon. If it is not Polar Bear cold out, they sky is dropping some serious snow on us. Can you tell I am ready for Spring?…I’m all singing. “where have all the flowers gone?” Seriously!

Well I gave in to Old Man Winter, and got a gym membership just so I could walk on the treadmill. I admit, I was a bit of the unbeliever when I was told that walking on the treadmill alone was going to cure this most annoying pain but I am here to tell you it has! It took about a 1 1/2 weeks to really make a difference but now that I am in my 3rd week of walking 3-5 times per week, that annoying pain is gone!

PLUS I have also added an hour of Yoga 1 day a week at a cute little studio, and I absolutely love it. I have always loved Yoga from the first time I tried it. It is challenging but it is so gentle. I will admit right now am not the girl who will be a runner(I don’t like my lungs burning or the pounding against the pavement) or pumping weights like a maniac at the gym. It is just not my style. I like gentle but effective exercises like Yoga, Walking, Hiking, and Pilates.

My ultimate plan is to get to 2-3 days per week for Yoga,( 2 days at the studio, and one day at home) on top of my 3-5 days of walking for 30 minutes on the treadmill. I might even throw in a day of Pilates if I am feeling super ambitious.

As I get older I can clearly see that inactivity is NOT my friend. This body needs to move or it starts to get belligerent and nasty, wreaking all sorts of havoc in the neighborhood.

It’s all about baby steps! I started on the very lowest level on the treadmill, 3 days a week for 30 minutes. I have now moved up a level, with a higher incline and a faster speed because I feel just a little bit stronger than I did when I started.  I am also to the point where if I don’t go walking my body starts to crave it. That is when I know things are really moving in the right direction.

What are you doing this winter to keep active? If you are not being active and getting exercise, what is keeping you from doing so?

Enjoy The View~ Jenifer

light

 

Remember how I had this grand plan to make my own light fixture so it would look something like this:

But with this type of light fixture:

Well this fickle girl changed her mind.

The original light I wanted was the one I ended up with. I saw this light fixture and really liked it because it was reminiscent of an old school house light. But then I saw the industrial farm house light with seeded glass and it kind of stole my heart.

After it was sitting around for a couple weeks I had a change of heart because I wanted 3 lights above the mirror instead of just 2 and I think 3 of the industrial farmhouse lights would be overwhelming.

So I headed to Home Depot and exchanged it for the original light I had my eye on, and Folks, I love the look. However, it is incredibly hard for me to photograph this bathroom. I think I need a wide angle lens or something. It is not a real small bathroom but it is narrow, so I don’t know if you will ever get a full shot of it all in one picture.

Anyway, here is the new light, plus you can see the new paint color better on the wall. It is Glidden Polished Grey:

Again, I am so far from being a photographer and the space and lighting are a huge challenge in this bathroom. Someday I might learn  

 

Stay tuned for updates further down the line. My plan next is to do a peel and stick floor & frame out the builder grade mirror. I am also on the lookout for a shower curtain I love and vanity hardware.

 

EnJoy The View~

Jenifer

vanity

 

For those who do not know, I am in the middle of a bathroom redo on a budget. This is our main bathroom on our upper level of our home. My budget is right around $250. It’s gonna be tight, but fingers crossed, hoping I can stick to it. This may or my not include a new floor

First things first…painting the yellow/orange oak vanity:

 

 

 

 

 

ALL of the wood work in our house is this color. While I am blessed to have such a nice house, I do not love this wood tone. I would like to paint it all, but that is a HUGE job, so, I will just start with the vanity.

I choose the color Kendall Charcoal by Benjamin Moore. I came across a kitchen on The Inspired Room, and I LOVED her colors she used in her kitchen. I thought it was a great starting point and inspiration for something different in this bathroom.

I had a couple hiccups along the way. My first thought was to use Benjamin Moore Advance paint, because I have heard rave reviews on painting cabinets and trim with this. It is a hybrid paint that is part oil, part water. It is also self leveling. The paint cleans up with soap and water but hardens and has the durability of oil based paint.

But lazy ‘ol me wanted to short cut and thought, “Hey, I will make some homemade chalk paint with this color and then it will not need any prep.”

UM, NO! I either didn’t mix the chalk paint strong enough to adhere to the glossy finish of the stock cabinets or something, because when I tried to polycrylic them, the brush took the homemade chalk paint right off the wood

So I went back to my original plan and went out and bought some of the fabulous Benjamin Moore Advance paint in Kendall Charcoal. DUH, I should have done this in the first place. It is such a great paint. Easy clean up, slower dry time compared to a latex so you have more time to work with it, but not too slow where there can be paint sag like some oil based paints can cause because they dry so slow.

Here is an example of paint sag:

(image source)

So far I am loving the result, even though I have a ways to go on this entire project.

Currently I am on the hunt for some beautiful hardware for the vanity, it never had any. This girl needs some jewelry!

Let me leave you with an AFTER picture of the vanity. Do not mind the messy paint on the back wall..all those walls will be painted a different color, this is why I started with the vanity, because I knew it would be messy and I do not tape anything off.

This color is actually a little darker in person than the monitor shows. The flash washed it out a bit, and there is no natural light in this bathroom, plus I am a total amateur in the photography department.

Next step: Paint walls Polished Grey by Glidden, and change out the light fixture above the mirror.

Here is a sneak peek at what the light will look like(there will be a couple tweaks).

 

EnJoy Your View~

Jenifer

Spark!

 

Great News here at House of Views…..I am now an affiliate for a wonderful Essential oil company called, Spark Naturals.(SN)

I am beyond excited because SN is a certified Pharmagrade company at very affordable prices!

This is not an MLM company & there are no sign up fees(for you or I)! What this means is I can offer you 10% off of all your orders through Spark Naturals. AND if you order $99 worth of product(after discount) you will get free shipping too!

I will do some blogging on the blog here, but I do a lot of my daily writing on facebook at House of Views, especially when it comes to my journey with essential oils(EOs).

I am pretty new to the world of EOs, with so much to learn, but the small amount of knowledge I have right now, makes me all the more excited to learn something new everyday about them!

They really are natures pharmacy.

All I ask is that you always use coupon code(at checkout): houseofviews. This will get you your 10% and little something in return for me for referring you to this awesome company!

If you have any questions I will be happy to help, if I do not know the answer I will try my hardest to find one!

goals

 

I spoke about living my life with intention & setting mini goals for the New Year  in my last post here.

I imagine my mini goals will change and evolve throughout the year. The whole purpose of setting small, attainable goals is to make them simple enough that they are achievable but have a purpose.

 

                            

Here are my first steps to being successful in health:

#1 goal:  Drink 75 oz of filtered water a day. Purpose: staying hydrated, being more alert, flushing toxins.

#2 goal: Drink 1 green smoothie a day. Purpose: add extra nutrients to my diet & more energy to my day.

There ya have it folks, this is how I am rolling in the New Year.

What are your New Year goals?

birth

 

I sat on my couch in the very early hours of Christmas Eve Day…many thoughts were running through this brain of mine but none of them pertaining to Christmas exactly, or were they?

A hot coffee, a warm fire in the fireplace, and the Christmas tree lit with everything mostly quiet, except for the faint sound of Suzy Bogguss quietly playing in the background as the B’Dog unwound on the computer, playing Free Cell, of course

I sat there, thinking about the many blessings in our lives, but then I felt a wave of guilt, the guilt of being a fraud….mostly because I take them all for granted. All.The.Time.
My health, my good fortune, material things, friends, family…

It always seems to be this time of year when I think about how I am going to live life differently.

The New Year approaches and I ask the same questions…”What will I resolve to do?”….”Should I have a word of the year, like last year(Simplify) or should I just throw out a random goal I want to accomplish?”

I happen to come across a blog post about how we as people are too vague when it comes to setting goals. OH! That is so me. to. a . tee.
She suggested picking 2 things that would lead me to the success in what is usually a grandiose goal…losing 50 pounds, reading 100 books, exercising 7 days a week, yada yada yada. We all know the song and dance.
I am here to tell you, THOSE NEVER HAPPEN. ever.

So I am setting my goals that are small but intentional.

And there it is…my word for the year.

Live my life more intentionally.

I am not quite sure what that looks like but I am imagining it will mean I am doing things with purpose, leaving my comfort zone(OH BOY!), being extra kind to others, remembering to set a daily intention every morning, being more available as a parent, wife, and friend. I want to be more intentional with the time I spend with God, because too many times he is just an after thought. And I want to be more intentional with my health more movement, more clean eating, more stretching, and more journaling.

So along with the season of the birth of a baby Jesus, for me comes the birth of living lifeintentionally. Getting real and doing things with pure purpose and for me that takes planning. Not just winging it.

stay tuned for my mini goals….